Towards a “catastrophic” temperature rise on the planet based on the commitments so far in COP26 |

London, Thanasis Gavos

So far, governments’ commitments to the COP26 climate conference to protect forests, reduce carbon emissions and reduce methane emissions will only reduce global warming by a few tenths of a degree Celsius, according to a scientific analysis presented today. in Glasgow.

According to the central scenario of the study of the Climate Action Tracker scientific group, which consists of various international environmental organizations, based on the commitments made so far, the planet will see the average temperature rise by at least 2.4 degrees Celsius by 2100.

Such an increase would be outside the target of keeping the temperature rise to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius, as set by the Paris Agreement in 2015 and even further from the 1.5 degree Celsius target set in Glasgow.

The result would be disasters on Earth caused by rising sea levels, floods, droughts, heat waves and more severe storms.

Analysts at Climate Action Tracker said many of the commitments announced in Glasgow were already included in the national climate change action plans and therefore did not offer anything new in the measurements.

As they also pointed out, many of the countries’ commitments to achieve emissions neutrality date back to 2050, years that scientists have set as the deadline if we want to keep the temperature rise to one and a half degrees Celsius.

However, in the most optimistic scenario of the analysis, with timely and complete fulfillment of the commitments made, the increase in temperature could be kept at 1.8 degrees Celsius.

Crucial in this regard would be a binding agreement at the end of COP26 on the “rules book” of the Paris Agreement, namely an agreement on how to monitor the implementation of each country’s commitments and increase funding for developing countries.

On the contrary, if only the tangible measures taken so far and not the goals announced have been taken into account, the planet’s temperature would rise by 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.