According to the United Nations, the world is fast reaching catastrophic levels of warming, with international climate targets slipping out of reach unless urgent and bold action is taken. As the UN climate report showcases a grim timeline indicating outdated 2050 net-zero emission goals, many experts say the climate has become a ticking time bomb.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Synthesis Report, reaching “net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050” has become a common cry in the fight against climate change by cities, states, and countries and has become a defining feature of corporate sustainability promises, from big tech companies to big oil firms.
The repercussions of global warming are already more extreme than anticipated, and the Earth is on a collision course with more hazardous and irreversible consequences. Climate experts have warned that the global average temperature target is going to be missed soon. The globe has already witnessed a 1.1-degree Celsius temperature rise and is on course to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius objective by the 2030s.
According to the analysis, greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change will peak by 2025. Also, wealthier countries, which are responsible for a greater proportion of pollution, need to move quicker than emerging ones, according to United Nations Secretary-General Ant׳nio Guterres. He presented the “Acceleration Agenda”, asking economically developed countries to accelerate their net-zero objectives forward to “as near to 2040 as feasible.”
Aiming towards net-zero emissions by the mid-century mark became a popular goal when the United Nations issued another climate report in 2018. The emphasis in today’s briefing is however on the little initiatives that the globe must do right immediately. A critical item buried in the 2018 edition was a timetable to cut emissions in half by 2030. According to today’s announcement, greenhouse gas pollution must peak by 2025 and then fall by 60% by 2035.
UN Secretary-General Ant׳nio Guterres, tweeted, “The climate time-bomb is ticking but the latest @IPCC_CH report shows that we have the knowledge & resources to tackle the climate crisis. We need to #ActNow to ensure a livable planet in the future.â€
There were various oversights in the last IPCC, the most significant of which was ignoring fossil fuels and how their dependency must be reduced at the ground level. So many attempts to balance fossil fuel emissions with green and ecologically sensitive actions are impractical on a wide scale.
Moreover, firms have merely pledged to net zero emissions while doing the bare minimum to reduce their carbon footprints. This is also why, in November, the UN emphasized how firms are making bogus promises to achieve net zero carbon objectives with far too many loopholes.
Now that the UN climate report showcases a grim timeline indicating outdated 2050 net-zero emission goals, it is time for companies and governments to stop taking steps slowly thinking they have time till 2050. Instead, they should bring changes at a faster pace to avoid catastrophic climatic repercussions.
Source: IPCC
