Scientists warned that a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius would transform the world into a place with collapsing ecosystem, cities under the sea, and dead croplands that would trigger mass migration, deaths due to starvation. In the absence of these plans, temperatures were expected to grow by 3 to 6.5 degrees by 2100 under different scenarios according to earlier assessments.
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The so-called “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions”, or INDCs, look to be the cornerstones of the Paris pact, which would be the first to unite nations worldwide in one single action plan.
“We welcome the report from the UNFCCC, and we are encouraged that the analysis shows that the cumulative commitments by countries will bring global average emissions per capita down by as much as 8% in 2025 and 9% by 2030”. In September, The Guardian reported that sources with the United Kingdom government suggested that, even after 100 per cent of INDCs were submitted and accounted for, they would still only cover a total of 85 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are moving in the right direction”.
Once again, delegates from around the world argued about cash, with developing and poorer countries accusing wealthier nations of reneging on promises to provide more money to fight a warming climate and adapt to climate change.
However, the new synthesis report, in documenting that the current pledges aren’t enough, raising the question of how Paris will increase ambitions still further, says Jennifer Morgan, global director of the climate program at the World Resources Institute.
Britain’s parliamentary under secretary for climate change, Nicholas Bourne said at the event the Paris agreement should contain provisions for a review periods, allowing countries to put forward more ambitious plans every few years.
Modi himself has talked about “climate justice” and sustainable lifestyle by developed countries to help combat the threat of climate change. Developing nations want it to be restated that they will receive this, as a precondition of any deal in Paris.
“It is a very good step… but it is not enough”, said United Nations Climate Change Secretariat Christiana Figueres in a presentation given in Bonn, Germany, on Friday.
It’s “a real evolution in terms of how countries are appreciating the need to firmly reduce emissions, and seeing it as something that could be compatible with development”, Fransen said on a call with press Thursday.
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He said that countries that had missed the deadline would have to take their INDCs to the climate change conference in Paris. “I am confident that these INDCs are not the final word in what countries are ready to do and achieve over time the journey to a climate-safe future is underway”, she noted, adding that the agreement to be inked in Paris can catalyse that transition.
