The report shows that to achieve the 1.5°C goal countries must increase their 2030 climate targets more than fivefold. They also need to cut emissions by about 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030. This is a massive increase compared to the current trends: over the last five years, the EU has reduced emissions by a meagre 0.25 per cent per year.
The report outlines ample opportunities to immediately scale up emission cuts in the G20 countries. For the EU, the list includes stopping investments in fossil-fuel infrastructure, including new natural gas pipelines; a strategy for zero-emission industrial processes; stepping up efforts to phase out coal-fired plants and to retrofit existing buildings.
“The report shows that in 2020 we need a massive turnaround in climate policies” said Wendel Trio, Director of Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe. “2020 needs to be a major historical turning point, when governments adopt much stronger commitments for 2030 and initiate immediate, drastic cuts in emissions. The hope lies in millions of people taking to the streets, who can force politicians to act according to the recommendations from scientists.”
The report comes just days before the start of this year’s UN Climate Summit COP25, which needs to set out the pathway for 2020. For the EU, COP25 is an opportunity to regain the leadership role by committing to increase its 2030 climate target already in early 2020.
Bringing the EU target in line with the Paris Agreement objective to limit temperature increase to 1.5°C will require reducing emissions by at least 65 percent by 2030.
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