The world's nations are taking more concrete steps to tackle climate change than ever before, but they are still very far from making the sweeping changes needed to keep global temperatures at relatively safe levels, according to a United Nations report issued on Tuesday.
The annual assessment, known as the Emissions Gap Report, tracks the gulf between national ambitions to fight global warming and what scientists say is needed to stave off catastrophe.
At least 149 countries have updated their pledges under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to curb their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, the report found. If every single country were to follow through on its stated plans, then global greenhouse gas emissions would be 2 percent to 9 percent lower at the end of the decade than they are today. But that would still put Earth on track to heat up roughly 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels by the century's end, the report found.
Under the Paris Agreement, world leaders vowed to hold global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and preferably closer to 1.5 degrees Celsius, in order to limit the risks from climate catastrophes. Current policies don't come close to meeting those goals, the report found.
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