COVID-19 not slowing climate change, world off track to meet Paris targets: UN report

GENEVA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic did not slow the relentless advance of climate change, and as the planet is committed to dangerous future global warming, the world is still significantly off-schedule to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the United Nations (UN) said in a report released on Thursday.

Following a peak in 2019, last year COVID-19 resulted in an extraordinary drop in global fossil CO2 emissions from the use of coal, oil, gas and cement. However, the short-term reduction "will not significantly bring down emissions by 2030 unless countries pursue an economic recovery that incorporates strong decarbonization," said the "United in Science 2021" report compiled by multiple UN agencies, including the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Environment Program, the World Health Organization and other partners.

"This is a critical year for climate action. This report by the United Nations and global scientific partner organizations provides a holistic assessment of the most recent climate science. The result is an alarming appraisal of just how far off course we are," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

The report warned that rising global temperatures are fueling devastating extreme weather events throughout the world, with spiraling impacts on economies and societies. The average global temperature for the past five years was among the highest on record. There is an increasing likelihood that temperatures will temporarily breach the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in the next five years.

The signatories to the Paris Agreement, a 2015 landmark climate accord, pledged to keep global warming "well below" two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and strive for a lower limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius. But the global effort has already fallen way short of goals.

"We are still significantly off-schedule to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement," the UN secretary general said. "This year has seen fossil fuel emissions bounce back, greenhouse gas concentrations continuing to rise and severe human-enhanced weather events that have affected health, lives and livelihoods on every continent.

"Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be impossible, with catastrophic consequences for people and the planet on which we depend," he warned.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land, and the scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole is unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years. Human-induced climate change is already increasing the frequency and intensity of weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.

With the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Guterres has called on all countries to commit to net zero emissions by 2050, backed up by concrete long-term strategies, and to cut global emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2010 levels.