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The Paris Agreement was a first step, not an end goal. Still, the world’s nations are far behind
(Inside Climate News, 23 Apr 2021) Most have yet to even establish detailed plans for meeting their targeted greenhouse gas emissions, making Biden’s goal simple: “preventing catastrophe.”
Without any further intervention, the world is on track to raise the global average temperature by around 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, falling dangerously short of the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement, according to the UN’s 2020 Emissions Gap Report.
A pillar of the landmark treaty was signatory countries’ promise to work toward limiting the global temperature increase to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, but ideally to 1.5 degrees, in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change, including scorching heat waves, devastating droughts and the displacement of millions of climate refugees.
“Goal number one of our climate policy is preventing catastrophe,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday in the lead up to the two-day virtual Leaders Summit on Climate.
Although many participants at Biden’s summit have pledged to achieve ambitious emissions reductions in the next decade, the treaty includes no real consequences for failing to reach those goals. And many climate experts question whether meeting even the least ambitious goals set forth in the Paris Agreement will be enough to stem the worst effects of global warming.
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Inside Climate News, 23 Apr 2021: The Paris Agreement was a first step, not an end goal. Still, the world’s nations are far behindMore Related News
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