The world must redouble efforts to halt global warming before it is too late, the UN's climate chief said Monday as nearly 200 nations kicked off talks in Bonn. "Our window of time for addressing climate change is closing very quickly," Patricia Espinosa told journalists. "We need to dramatically increase our ambition."
The 12-day technical talks are focused on hammering out an "operating manual" for the landmark 2015 Paris climate pact, which calls for capping global warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and 1.5C if possible. Earth's average surface temperature has already risen by 1.0C since the mid-19th century, enough to push up sea levels and boost the severity of cyclones, drought, and deadly heat waves.
Voluntary national pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, annexed to the Paris agreement, fall well short of the target, and would yield a 3C world that scientists say would strain the fabric of human civilisation. "A rise of this magnitude would be extremely destabilising," Espinosa said at a press conference, webcast live. "We cannot allow this to happen." The Paris Agreement calls for revisiting nations' carbon-cutting pledges in 2023, but on current trends, experts warn, that may be too late. After remaining flat for three years, global CO2 emissions in 2017 went up by 1.4 percent, dashing hopes that they had peaked.
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