Emissions Gap Report 2019

Today the United Nations Environment Programme released the 2019 edition of its annual Emissions Gap Report. As the world strives to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit climate change, it is crucial to track progress towards globally agreed climate goals. For a decade, UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report has compared where greenhouse gas emissions are heading against where they need to be and highlighted the best ways to close the gap.

What’s new in this year’s report?

Update on the emissions gap

The report presents the latest data on the expected gap in 2030 for the 1.5°C and 2°C temperature targets of the Paris Agreement. It considers different scenarios, from no new climate policies since 2005 to full implementation of all national commitments under the Paris Agreement. For the first time, it looks at how large annual cuts would need to be from 2020 to 2030 to stay on track to meeting the Paris goals.

Ways to bridge the emissions gap

Every year, the report features ways to bridge the gap. This year, the report looks at the potential of the energy transition – particularly in the power, transport and building sectors – and efficiency in the use of materials such as iron steel and cement. Even if all current unconditional commitments under the Paris Agreement were to be implemented, temperatures are expected to rise by 3.2°C, bringing even wider-ranging and more destructive climate impacts. Collective ambition must increase more than fivefold over current levels to deliver the cuts needed over the next decade for the 1.5°C goal.

2020 is a critical year for climate action, with the UN climate change conference in Glasgow aiming to determine the future course of efforts to avert the crisis, and countries expected to significantly step up their climate commitments.“Our collective failure to act early and hard on climate change means we now must deliver deep cuts to emissions – over 7 percent each year if we break it down evenly over the next decade,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director. “This shows that countries simply cannot wait until the end of 2020, when new climate commitments are due, to step up action. They – and every city, region, business, and individual – need to act now.”

“We need quick wins to reduce emissions as much as possible in 2020, then stronger Nationally Determined Contributions to kick-start the major transformations of economies and societies. We need to catch up on the years in which we procrastinated,” she added. “If we don’t do this, the 1.5°C goal will be out of reach before 2030.”