Global Emissions On The Rise As National Commitments To Curb Climate Change Fall Short, Says UNEP Report

The recently released ‘2018 Emissions Gap Report’ by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has stated that global Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission increased in 2017 after consecutively falling in the preceding three years (2014, 2015 and 2016), UN News has reported.

“Global emissions are on the rise as national commitments to combat climate change come up short. But surging momentum from the private sector and untapped potential from innovation and green-financing offer pathways to bridge the emissions gap”, UNEP said in its press release.

“Although estimates on the emission reduction potential vary widely, some mention 19 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2030. This is enough to close the 2°C gap,” UNEP has said in its press statement. Global emissions have reached historic levels at 53.5 GtCO2e in 2017.

This increase in emission is set to continue in 2018 too. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), has stated, “When I look at the first nine months of data, I expect in 2018 carbon emissions will increase once again. This is definitely worrying news for our climate goals.”

This report comes just days before the start of Conference of Parties-24 (COP24) in Katowice, Poland. Representative of nations will negotiate and set the roadmap for the next year to tackle climate change at this gathering.

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