Pledge more emission cuts: United Nations

Carbon-cutting pledges from 146 nations are “far from enough” to stave off dangerous global warming, the UN warned friday, three weeks ahead of a crucial climate summit in Paris. The voluntary efforts to curb greenhouse gases — if respected — would only yield a third of the cuts needed by 2030 to keep Earth from overheating, according to a UN Environment Programme report. 

Countries have made “a historic level of commitment” with their pledges, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said in a statement. “However, they are not sufficient to limit global temperature rise to the recommended level of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this century.” Beyond that threshold, scientists say, lies a climate-addled world plagued by deadly drought, superstorms, and mass migration.

The emissions reduction plans -- called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs -- would result in a temperature hike of 3.0 C (4.8 F) or more by 2100, UNEP said. Other scientific estimates have varied between 2.7 C and 3.5 C. The annual “Emissions Gap” analysis tracks the difference between projected CO2 pollution, on the one hand, and the levels required to stay under the UN 2 C target, on the other.

This year’s report is the first to take into account greenhouse gas reduction promises made ahead of the November 30-December 11 summit, tasked with delivering the first-ever universal climate pact. Without the INDCs, humanity is set to spew some 60 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent -- a measure that groups different greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide -- into the atmosphere in 2030.