U.N. warns world set for 2.7C rise on today's emissions pledges

Headlines 11:15 27 Oct, 2021

U.N. report in August warned that global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions could breach 1.5C in the next two decades

U.N. warns world set for 2.7C rise on today's emissions pledges

Current commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions put the planet on track for an average 2.7 degrees Celsius temperature rise this century, a United Nations report said on Tuesday, in another stark warning ahead of crunch climate talks.

Governments will be in the spotlight at the COP26 conference next week to meet a deadline of this year to commit to more ambitious cut pledges, in what could be the last chance to put the world on track to limiting warming to below 2C above pre-industrial levels and ideally to 1.5C (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

As extreme weather events from wildfires to floods have hit countries around the world, a U.N. report in August warned that global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions could breach 1.5C in the next two decades.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday it was "touch and go" whether the most important round of U.N. talks since the Paris Agreement in 2015 will secure the agreements needed to tackle climate change.