UNEP’s annual emission gap report is here and the results show that we are still not on track to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Here are some of the major findings that might surprise you: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased for the third year in a row, reaching a record high; COVID-19 helped reduce some carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, but atmospheric GHG concentrations are still rising; governments are missing opportunities to build climate transition into post-pandemic economic recovery strategies; and the emissions of the world’s richest 1% are more than twice the emissions of the world’s poorest 50% together.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released the 11th annual edition of its Emissions Gap Report, which “assesses the gap between estimated future global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if countries implement their climate mitigation pledges and the global emission levels from least-cost pathways that are aligned with achieving the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. This difference between “where we are likely to be and where we need to be” is known as the ‘emissions gap.’”
Below is a summary of the top findings of the 2020 report:
- “GHG emissions continued to increase in 2019” for the third consecutive year, “reaching a record high.”