International News
course of efforts to avert crisis, and countries expected to significantly
step up their climate commitments.
"For ten years, the Emissions Gap Report has been sounding the
alarm – and for ten years, the world has only increased its emissions,”
said UN secretary-general António Guterres. “There has never been
a more important time to listen to the science. Failure to heed these
warnings and take drastic action to reverse emissions means we will
continue to witness deadly and catastrophic heatwaves, storms and
pollution.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned
that going beyond 1.5°C will increase the frequency and intensity of
climate impacts. “Our collective failure to act early and hard on climate
change means we now must deliver deep cuts to emissions – over 7%
each year, if we break it down evenly over the next decade,” said Inger
Andersen, UNEP’s executive director. “This shows that countries simply
cannot wait until the end of 2020, when new climate commitments
are due, to step up action. They – and every city, region, business and
individual – need to act now.”
“We need quick wins to reduce emissions as much as possible in
2020, then stronger Nationally Determined Contributions to kick-start
the major transformations of economies and societies. We need to
catch up on the years in which we procrastinated,” she added. “If we
don’t do this, the 1.5°C goal will be out of reach before 2030.”
The guidelines
are another
strand to
a global
movement to
make cooling
efficient
and climate
friendly.
14
RACA Journal I April 2020
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