Global emissions to fall in the next decade, UN reports
Ahead of next month’s climate summit in Brazil, the UN has emphasised positive trends while also highlighting the lack of global cooperation needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
“Humanity is now clearly bending the emissions curve downwards for the first time, although still not nearly fast enough”, said Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, in his statement ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November. “While the direction of travel is improving every year, we have a serious need for more speed, and for helping more countries take stronger climate actions.”
According to the latest UN report, published on Tuesday, only 64 countries have made new commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. This represents just 30% of global emissions. Meanwhile, the 2015 Paris climate agreement required all countries to do so.
The UN report emphasises that the initial goal of keeping the temperature rise below 1.5°C is failing. However, a positive trend is still evident. According to UN calculations, global emissions should fall by around 10% by 2035.
In his statement, Stiell added that one of the reasons is the significant investment flowing into clean energy.
Recent data is showing renewables surpassed coal as the world’s largest energy source this year,” Stiell said.
To achieve the goal set out in the Paris Agreement, the greenhouse gas emissions should be cut by almost 60% by 2035, UN reported last year.
China’s solar, wind power installations reach record high
Meanwhile, the UN has registered a positive forecast of declining emissions for the first time since 1990, Reuters highlights.
According to the European Commission’s latest report, China, the United States, India, the EU27, Russia and Indonesia were named among the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters in 2024. In the same year, record levels of greenhouse gases in the global atmosphere were measured, the Barents Observer reported.
China has specifically been named as the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases, due to the rapid expansion of its aluminium industry.
However, as Reuters reported earlier, China’s solar and wind power installations reached a record high in 2024. This may indicate that China’s focus on green energy could help to tackle the global problem.
Local authorities in Norway, for example, see onshore wind power as one of the best suitable sources of green energy.
“If the EU and China were to coordinate, it could be enough to shift the balance towards clean green alternatives,” Timothy Lenton, a professor of climate change and Earth system science at the University of Exeter, told the Guardian. “…You don’t need everybody, you typically only need a fifth to tip to the new alternative and then you get to a situation where everybody else is compelled to follow.”
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Wildfire seasons in the N.W.T. unlikely to ease off by next century, study finds, CBC News
Finland: Flooding in Finland is getting worse, new climate report says, Yle News
Greenland: Ocean currents may be driving mercury pollution in Arctic, says study, Eye on the Arctic
Iceland: Resilience, recovery prioritized in Iceland report on Grindavik evacuation, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Re-freezing the Arctic is costly and dangerous, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: New NOAA report finds vast Siberian wildfires linked to Arctic warming, The Associated Press
Sweden: Major floods cause train issues in northern Sweden, Radio Sweden
United States: How the Arctic has been ‘pushed & triggered’ into climate extremes: paper, Eye on the Arctic
