Net Zero targets must be brought forward by a decade to stop the “climate time bomb”, the UN has said at the launch of a major new climate change report. The Telegraph has more.
Rising emissions in recent years mean cuts in the next two decades will have to be more extreme than current plans, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said.
An 80% global reduction in CO2 emissions is needed to limit warming to 1.5°C, the upper aim of the Paris Agreement, its new report says.
But the UN said richer countries must move faster than developing nations, by “super-charging” their Net Zero goals and helping poorer countries cut their own emissions.
The U.K., like most other developed nations, has set a target for Net Zero emissions by 2050, and its climate change advisers have said getting there quicker will “stretch feasibility”.
Speaking at the launch of the report on Monday, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, said “humanity is on thin ice – and that ice is melting fast”.
“The climate time bomb is ticking,” he said, and added that the 1.5°C limit was “achievable”, but would require a “quantum leap in climate action”.
Developed countries should “commit to reaching Net Zero as close as possible to 2040” while emerging countries, including China and India, should aim for 2050.
Read more: Net Zero Must Be Brought Forward by a Decade to Stop “Climate Time Bomb”, Says UN
