UN calls on countries to cut emissions in half due to threat of climate catastrophe: we are balancing on a tightrope

A new report by the United Nations says that by 2100, the world will warm twice as much as the 1.5 degrees Celsius target adopted by 196 countries in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This is the dire scenario that awaits the Earth if humanity does not immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to UN forecasts, global temperatures will rise by 3.1 degrees Celsius. Scientists warn that warming on this scale will plunge the world into a climate catastrophe, because "we are balancing on a planetary tightrope," LiveScience writes.

The UN emphasizes that the current level of warming caused by human activity is about 1.3 C above pre-industrial levels, meaning we could reach 1.5 C in less than a decade.

"We are balancing on a planetary tightrope. This report shows that annual greenhouse gas emissions have reached their highest level on record and grew by 1.3% last year. They need to fall by 9% annually until 2030 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 C and avoid the worst of climate change," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The report says that global greenhouse gas emissions reached 63 gigatons of "carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent" in 2023, up 0.8 gigatons – or 1.3% – from 2022 levels.

Experts emphasize that maintaining the 1.5 C target depends on countries jointly reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2030 and then by 57% by 2035.

"There is a direct link between rising emissions and increasingly frequent and intense climate disasters. People around the world are paying a terrible price for this," Guterres emphasized.

The report's conclusions come two weeks before the annual climate summit of the UN Conference of the Parties, which will take place on November 11-22 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Leaders from around the world will gather to build on an agreement made last year to transition away from fossil fuels, experts say.

"If we look at the progress towards the 2030 goals, especially of the G20 countries, they have fallen short," said Anne Olhoff, chief climate advisor at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and chief scientific editor of the new report.

"The UN report shows that there are technologies that can achieve the necessary emission reductions by 2030 and 2035 to reach the 1.5 C limit, but only with increased ambition and support," summed up UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

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