https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/21/world-cut-emissions-un-climate-crisis
Action needed to avoid disastrous overshoot of climate targets, according to organisation’s environment body
The world needs to cut carbon emissions by nearly a fifth in the next four years, and by close to half within a decade, to avoid overshooting climate targets by a disastrous margin.
Although the “window has closed” on holding temperature rises to 1.5C, in line with scientific advice, limiting the “overshoot” of that target is still possible, according to the UN Environment Programme (Unep).
But countries are failing to translate their long-term targets on reducing emissions into short-term actions, a report on the “emissions gap” between climate goals and policies has found.
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At the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil last November, governments were supposed to make fresh commitments under the Paris agreement to cut emissions. But the commitments made were nowhere near strong enough.
Even if all of those updated pledges were fulfilled, temperatures would still rise to 2.6C above preindustrial levels, according to Unep’s projections, endangering life across swathes of the globe. Policy has also not kept up with pledges: on current policies around the world, temperatures would rise to 2.8C.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/21/world-cut-emissions-un-climate-crisis
