Never too late

The opportunity to use pandemic recovery spending to reduce emissions has been largely missed. Only around 20 percent of recovery spending can be characterised as green. Meanwhile, developing nations are falling behind. Covid-19 spending in low-income economies is $60 per person, compared to $11,800 in advanced economies.

However, we can still catch up. The window is still open. This starts with nations putting in place the policies to meet their new commitments and start implementing them immediately as they find ways to increase ambition to the levels required. Crucially, they must look hard at how to start implementing net-zero pledges faster.

A total of 49 countries plus the European Union have pledged a net-zero target, covering over half of global domestic greenhouse gas emissions. If implemented effectively, net-zero targets could shave an extra 0.5 degrees Celsius off global warming, bringing the predicted temperature rise down to 2.2 degrees Celsius. However, many national climate plans delay net-zero action until after 2030.

Nations must ensure net-zero commitments are included in NDCs, and action brought forward. They must put in new policies to back this raised ambition and, again, start implementing them. It is also essential to deliver financial and technological support to developing nations so that they can both adapt to the impacts of climate change already here and set out on a low-emissions growth path.

As the Emissions Gap Report shows, many specific sectors could make a big difference. Methane, for example, has significant importance for short-term climate action. The gas has a global warming potential over 80 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year horizon, but only lingers in the atmosphere for 12 years. Cuts to methane from the oil and gas, agriculture and waste sectors will limit temperature increase faster than cuts to carbon dioxide – and the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030 is very welcome.

Carbon markets, meanwhile, could help to accelerate action by decreasing mitigation costs, so it is important for nations to finalise Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on establishing effective and trustworthy markets that go beyond offsets, to emissions reductions. Finally, as previous UNEP Emissions Gap Reports have shown, there is potential in ecosystem restoration, renewables, energy efficiency and so much more.

Clearly, we have many options to step up action to limit climate change. We should not despair. We have already shown that climate action can make a difference.

Excerpted: ‘New climate pledges are weak, but it is not too late to catch up’

Aljazeera.com