New UN emissions pledges still stack up to 3.5°C
The New Scientist | 08 February 2010
THE Copenhagen climate dance continues. This week, 55 nations representing 78 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions from energy use, submitted pledges to the UN to cut emissions by 2020.
The commitments were made to meet a deadline set at the climate talks held in Copenhagen in December. But they mostly reiterate national pledges made before the summit, and are steeped in conditions. The US, for instance, reaffirmed its commitment to cut emissions to 17 per cent below 2005 levels, contingent on legislation being passed at home. China repeated that it would "endeavour to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 per cent" between 2005 and 2020.
"The vast majority of nations has failed to seize this opportunity to make their pledges more ambitious," says Niklas Höhne, a policy analyst at Ecofys in Cologne, Germany. "Our analysis suggests that the world is still on track for a 3.5 °C rise."
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