Copenhagen commitments not nearly enough, UNEP tells Cancun

Gland, Switzerland: A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) assessment finding the Copenhagen Accord commitments insufficient to reduce climate changing emissions to safe levels is yet another warning the world needs to do more, WWF said yesterday.

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report: Are the Copenhagen Accord pledges sufficient to limit global warming to 2°C or 1.5°C , issued on the eve of the UN Climate summit in Cancun, Mexico shows that “lenient” implementation of the lowest ambition pledges made under the Copenhagen Accord would lead to a 20 per cent over-run in carbon emissions in 2020, compared to the levels required to limit global warming to 2°C.

“This authoritative study amply confirms that there is an alarming ‘gigatonnes gap’ between the emission pledges put on the table at Copenhagen and the much lower levels needed to secure a safe climate future,” said Gordon Shepherd, leader of WWF’s Global Climate Initiative.

“Governments meeting for the UN climate negotiations in Cancun in just a few days time need to fully recognize the scale of this gap, and kick off a process that can start to close it. As a no-brainer, delegates need to agree text that will close the various loopholes that, though dubious accounting tricks, threaten to turn a large gap into a yawning gulf.”

The UNEP finding of a gap of around 9 gigatonnes of emissions of CO2equivalent between what science shows is needed to keep the planet below 2°C warming and what governments are promising to do, is comparable to a WWF “gigatonne gap” analysis published in October this year, estimating a gap of around 10 gigatonnes of CO2e.

“Industrialized countries have a leadership role to play but are fulfilling this part badly,” said Shepherd, referring to the publication, also today, of an climate policy tracker for the European Union, showing that EU member states are collectively putting in only one third of the effort required to reduce their emissions while the best performing countries shift this level to only half.

“The EU is currently stuck on a 20 per cent emission target for 2020 that is now essentially business as usual,” said Shepherd. “The EU urgently needs to move to its long proposed target of at least 30% – by doing so it could help close the gigatonne gap, lay the foundations for its own transition to a green economy and help to re-energise the international climate talks.”

For further information:
UNEP Report: http://www.rona.unep.org/
WWF Report: Plugging the gigatonne gap: http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?195454/2020-emissions-set-to-exceed–dangerous-levels-by-one-third
WWF Ecofys EU Climate Policy Tracker: www.climatepolicytracker.eu