On the eve of COP27, the United Nations world conference to be held in Egypt in November, the UN released its newest Emissions Gap Report, this year entitled "The window is closing: The climate crisis requires a rapid transformation of societies." And the document makes a serious warning, which must be taken into consideration by the leaders and technical teams that will meet soon in Sharm el-Sheikh: there is "no reliable path to 1.5°C", that is, the routes we have defined to date do not put us on a trajectory that can enable global warming of up to 1.5ºC by the end of the century,  as provided for in the Paris Agreement.

According to the United Nations, current policies point to a future with a warming of 2.8ºC, which will have worrying consequences. And the implementation of existing commitments so far will only reduce this number to a temperature increase of 2.4 to 2.6°C by the end of the century. For the UN, the only way to avoid this destination is a "rapid transformation of societies" and the document provides valuable information on how to carry out this transformation, analyzing the necessary actions in the sectors of electricity supply, industry, transport and construction and in the food and financial systems.

"We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is up. Only a radical transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating the climate disaster," said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen, according to Reuters.

The report looked at the gap, or gap, between the CO2 cuts promised by countries in their Nationally Determined Contributions, the so-called NDCs, and the cuts needed to achieve what was agreed in Paris. These targets, revised periodically, are still considered insufficient. And recent surveys show that only 26 of the 193 countries that agreed in 2021 to step up their climate actions have indeed followed more ambitious plans. China and the United States, for example, which are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, have taken some steps but have not promised more this year, as is necessary, and climate negotiations between the two have been frozen for months, the New York Times recalls.

To limit warming to 1.5°C, over the next eight years annual emissions should be reduced by 45% compared to emissions under current policies, the document says. The UN also points out that transforming the global economy into a low-carbon economy will require investments of at least $4 to $6 trillion a year.

Source: Um só Planeta