CAFOD: UN report shows we must act now or face global catastrophe

Bushfires below Stacks Bluff, Tasmania, Australia. Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash

Source: CAFOD

The UN today published a compilation of climate action plans from countries around the world. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Synthesis report indicates that while there is a clear trend that greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced over time, nations must urgently redouble their climate efforts if they are to prevent global temperature increases beyond the Paris Agreement's goal of well below 2C - ideally 1.5C - by the end of the century.

Graham Gordon, Head of Policy at CAFOD, commented: "The synthesis report shows us that the climate crisis has reached a point of no return - act now or face global catastrophe.

"For many countries in the Global South, climate change is already having life changing and often deadly impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable in society, so this is no news to them.

"With just six weeks to go before COP26, it's time for world leaders to get serious and take radical action, that meets the scale of what we face, to fight the climate crisis. Current global efforts are still going in the wrong direction, with countries projected to emit more carbon in 2030 than in 2010, which could lead to global warming approaching 2.7 degrees by the end of the century.

"As president of COP26 the UK must lead by example on this. We must consign fossil fuels to history, increase climate spending for the world's poorest countries and keep the Paris Agreement of 1.5 alive if we are to have a shred of credibility on the international stage."

Read the report here: https://unfccc.int/news/full-ndc-synthesis-report-some-progress-but-still-a-big-concern