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UN says we are failing miserably in attempts to control climate change
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UN says we are failing miserably in attempts to control climate change

For decades we have been trying to slow global warming and control climate change. Unfortunately, none of these attempts appear to be working, as the UN says the fight against climate change “falls far short of what is needed.”

UN Climate, the United Nations agency charged with combating global warming and climate change, released a new report this month. The agency carried out a complete analysis of global plans to reduce carbon emissions submitted by almost 200 different countries.

According to this analysis, plans to control climate change are far from on track and will barely reduce pollution by 2030. This means that efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius in this century will be downright impossible. The analysis was published alongside another report This shows that greenhouse gases have actually increased by more than 11 percent over the past two decades.

NASA climate gif visualization
A visualization of the evolution of global temperatures over the years. Image source: NASA/YouTube

Additionally, this same report shows that atmospheric concentrations have increased in 2023. As researchers scramble to find extreme ways to reverse the effects of climate change, such as send a giant parasol into space or even fill the atmosphere with sulfur To help keep the heat out, these reports will likely only push scientists to come up with even more extreme ideas.

The UN says it wants to see what progress is made to reduce emissions that threaten to push global temperatures above the 1.5 degrees Celsius predicted for this century. Many scientists believe that reaching this point could cause unstoppable doomsday loops that would seriously damage our planet. As things stand, however, these plans to control climate change are far from on track.

When added up, current plans represent just a 2.6% reduction in emissions by 2030 compared to what they were in 2019. The UN says this is ‘a far cry’ from the reduction of 43% that scientists say we need by the end. this decade to keep the world on track to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

Although these results are striking, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell says they are not surprising. The UN expects countries to submit much stronger plans by Sprint next year, with discussions among world leaders at the next UN climate conference next month. It remains to be seen, however, whether or not these new plans will help our climate control plans get back on track.