Isra-Mart srl : Nations risk falling short on carbon reductions, group says

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Isra-Mart SRL news:

Beijing – Reductions in global carbon emissions are on course to fall far short of the levels needed to avoid ‘catastrophic’ climate change, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned Wednesday.

‘Global greenhouse gas emissions under current policy settings could be up to nearly one-third more in 2020 than the trend needed to avoid catastrophic climate change,’ WWF said in a report based on its analysis of scientific forecasts and current national targets for reducing emissions.

The report cited research suggesting that global carbon dioxide emissions should be limited to 40 billion tons in 2020, but it said current targets projected total emissions of between 47.9 billion tons and 53.6 billion tons.

‘It’s clear that some countries are facing up to the necessary transformations of their economies but other countries have failed to endorse this new trend speedily and are risking the safety and prosperity of all,’ Gordon Shepherd, the head of WWF’s Global Climate Initiative, said.

Shepherd said he hoped the ongoing working group meeting of the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference in the Chinese city of Tianjin would yield ‘at least some indications of this trend changing.’

WWF said its analysis showed that governments had ‘more than enough options’ to close the gap, including rapid transformation of carbon-intensive developed economies and better financial support for carbon reductions in developing nations.

‘Failure to embrace these solutions would put the world at risk of overspending its remaining carbon budget – the total amount of carbon we can still afford to emit to the atmosphere before crossing the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius warming over pre-industrial levels,’ WWF said.

Officials have warned that the UN conference in Tianjin, which ends on Saturday, is unlikely to produce any breakthrough in negotiations on binding targets for reducing carbon emissions.

China has urged developed nations to offer greater cuts in emissions and more assistance to developing nations under the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ agreed through the UN Convention on Climate Change.

Speaking in Tianjin on Tuesday, Su Wei, China’s chief negotiator on climate change, said developed nations should ’share some pressures of developing countries, which have struggled to eliminate poverty and improve people’s livelihood.’

China said last week that it was working towards a possible deal on binding emissions targets in late 2011, meaning no agreement is likely at the UN climate change summit planned for Cancun, Mexico later this year.