The world is now moving into the latter half of a critical decade to fight climate change. Scientists have warned that nations need to cut carbon emissions nearly 50% by 2030 to stave off 1.5C temperature rise. The world is woefully off track to meet those targets and risks further backsliding, even as there are some surprising sources of progress.
"More openness to technology and greater flexibility are the right steps," said Merz, who has made vocal demands for the ban to be eased as the country's flagship auto sector faces mounting problems.
The nearly 200 countries that signed up to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate action were already called on by the UN to put forward updated policies on curbing emissions in February, a deadline that was extended till the end of September. Denmark and Spain are among the EU nations that approve a European Commission proposal to cut emissions by 90% by 2040, which was to form the basis of the plan to present to the UN for goals to be achieved by 2035.
