S'pore's 2035 climate target for COP30 and the absent submissions from other countries

With just two weeks left until the world meets in Brazil on Nov 10 for UN climate summit COP30, less than a third of countries party to the Paris Agreement have submitted their national targets for curbing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

- Ang Qing Correspondent

This comes despite scientists declaring in October that record temperatures fuelled by such emissions have pushed the earth's ecosystems to its first catastrophic crisis, as heat-sensitive coral reefs enter widespread decline.

Under the Paris Agreement, nearly 200 countries that signed the world's climate pact were asked by the UN to submit their climate targets for 2035 by February. Singapore did so on time, but as at Oct 24, only 63 out of the 196 parties had done so.

Ahead of COP30, which will take place over two weeks in the Amazonian city of Belem, The Straits Times unpacks the implications of the absent plans, and talks to experts on the significance of Singapore's timely submission.

HOW WORRYING IS IT THAT COUNTRIES MISSED DEADLINES FOR THEIR CLIMATE TARGETS?

The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, aims to limit global warming to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels. Under the treaty, countries are meant to submit increasingly ambitious national targets dubbed nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to curb their greenhouse gas emissions every five years.

However, only fewer than 20 countries, including Singapore, met the initial February deadline to finalise their targets for 2035. More than 40 countries have since updated their NDCs, including Chile, Tonga and Angola.

Among those that missed the extended deadline of Sept 30 are the European Union's 27 member states, as well as India, the third-largest contributor to emissions.

Meanwhile, the world's top emitter China announced its targets in September, but has yet to formally finalise them.

The current climate of political uncertainty and economic pressures is the key driver behind these delays, analysts told ST.