In the run-up to next month’s COP27 climate summit in Cairo, the UN has delivered increasingly strident warnings that the global pace of decarbonisation is woefully inadequate.
States were due to report back on plans made at COP26 in Glasgow last December. The implied aim was that they would now strengthen their plans in line with the commitment to accelerating the whole process. It’s not going to happen – plans are mostly inadequate or even entirely lacking.
The original goal, publicised before COP26, was to decrease carbon emissions by 7% a year through to 2030, still barely enough to curb the rate of global heating. That has fallen by the wayside, with even COVID-related lockdowns in 2021 and 2022 making only a minimal impact. Instead of year-on-year decreases we have had increases, so that an annual decrease of 9% is now needed for the remainder of the decade to achieve the same total.
