"The hope that followed the signing of the Paris climate agreement in 2016 has long gone as the global community has failed utterly to rein in emissions, which barring a small pandemic-induced blip in 2020 have headed remorselessly upwards ever since. And there is little sign of this changing anytime soon. Indeed, as global heating has accelerated over the past few years, instead of trying harder, the world is turning its back on measures to tackle the climate crisis."
"Across the Channel, green measures are under attack too. Last month, even as the continent sweltered beneath record temperatures, the EU announced that its 2040 target, which seeks to reduce emissions by 90% on 1990 levels, would be made more flexible for which read watered down. Under pressure from business and the political right, this will now allow millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions to be offset by buying carbon credits from outside the bloc a scam designed to permit business as usual by paying someone else to absorb the resulting carbon emitted."
Global emissions have continued to rise since 2016, with only a small pandemic-related dip in 2020, and prospects for reversing that trend are poor. Many governments are abandoning or weakening climate measures while approving new fossil-fuel infrastructure. In the UK, proposed approvals for major North Sea oilfields (Rosebank and Jackdaw) and airport expansions at Heathrow and Gatwick proceed without stronger aviation-emissions measures. Conservative ministers have announced the end of net-zero support and committed to expanded offshore extraction. The EU has loosened its 2040 target to allow external carbon credits. The White House under Donald Trump has dismantled climate initiatives and exited the Paris Agreement.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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