No G20 country is on track to limit climate warming to 1.5 degrees

The most important economies in the world do not do enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the Paris climate agreement. This is evident from an international analysis.

Global emissions rose again last year, reports the annual report ‘Brown and green from Climate Transparency, a network of researchers and environmental activists. The report will be published three weeks before the start of the UN climate conference in Madrid.

Energy-related CO2 emissions increased by 1.8 percent in the 19 industrialized countries and emerging economies that make up the G20, along with the European Union. Together they are responsible for around 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. None of those G20 members achieves the 1.5-degree target, says Climate Transparency.

“The G20 countries must be climate leaders if we want the Paris agreement to succeed,” said Lena Donat of environmental organization Germanwatch, one of the report’s authors. Climate Transparency did establish that around half of the G20 countries are likely to achieve their own objectives. That should allow to formulate new, more ambitious goals in 2020.

In the Paris climate agreement, almost all countries in the world committed themselves to limiting climate change below 2 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. They would also make efforts to limit them to 1.5 degrees.

At this time the earth has already risen about a degree.