Context

• 14th Emissions Gap Report 2023 titled as ‘Broken Record – Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again)’ was released by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and it reflects that there is only a 14 per cent chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, considering the most optimistic climate action projects.

Background

• Recently, Production Gap Report 2023 found that governments plan to produce around 110% more fossil fuels in 2030. The report was described as a "startling indictment of runaway climate carelessness".
• Production Gap Report recommended total phase-out of coal production and use by 2040 and a combined reduction in oil and gas production and use by three-quarters by 2050 from 2020 levels.
• By September 2023, 97 parties from 101 countries, representing 82 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, had adopted Net Zero pledges. However, the diversity and scope of these commitments vary.

Major Highlights of Report

• Even if the existing nationally determined contributions (NDC), both conditional and unconditional, are delivered by 2030, the world will warm by 2.5°C, breaching the 2°C target set by the Paris Agreement.
• Spike in the number of climate records being shattered, especially this year, when 86 days have experienced warming higher than 1.5°C.
• Of the global GHG emissions, approximately two-thirds come from fossil fuel-based CO2 emissions.
• The United States of America accounts for 4 percent of the current world population but contributed 17 percent of global warming from 1850 to 2021 including the impact of methane and nitrous oxide emissions. India, by contrast, accounts for 18 percent of the world population, but till date only contributed 5 percent of warming.

UNEP

• Formation: 5 June 1972
• Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya
• Executive Director: Inger Andersen
• Governing Body: United Nations Environment Assembly
• Major Initiatives: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), The Minamata Convention on Mercury, The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, The Convention on Migratory Species and The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).