A new report from the United Nations revealed Tuesday that greenhouse gas emissions will reach 8 to 12 billion tonnes by the year 2020, which will cause severe climate change.
According to Reuters, such level of gas emissions in the future is way beyond the required level to keep global warming around 2 degrees Celsius, which will keep enormous climate changes at bay.
According to earlier studies, greenhouse gas emissions every year should not go above 44 billion tonnes to potentially avert the rise of temperature beyond the said threshold by the year 2020.
In 2010, the recorded emissions globally reached 50.1 gigatons, which means that the amount of effort to prevent the devastating changes in climate is an enormous undertaking.
The annual report of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), which was a result of collaborative work of 70 scientists from 17 nations, recommended that the greenhouse gas emissions should be greatly diminished by 14 to 20 gigatonnes every year. It would be at cost amounting to $100 every tonne of equivalent carbon dioxide should more countries guarantee to further decrease emissions in the succeeding years.
However, based from the panel's analysis of the countries' pledges, the promises to cut down on emissions in 2010 were barely fulfilled. There was scarcely any change from the previous estimate of 8 to 13 billion tonnes of emissions by 2020.
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said in a statement, "Delayed action means a higher rate of climate change in the near term and likely more near-term climate impacts, as well as the continued use of carbon-intensive and energy-intensive infrastructure." Steiner is also Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations.
Limiting the increase in temperature consistently is becoming trickier and measures must be taken on a global scale to significantly decrease the gap between the present greenhouse gas emissions and those projected by 2020.
Among the means to diminish emissions, as enumerated by the report, are renewable energy, energy efficiency, and development of fossil fuel funding and better agricultural practices.
Next week, a United Nations conference will be held in Warsaw, Poland which will be attended by delegates of 190 countries. The discussion will focus on the reduction of emissions and push for another climate agreement. The pact will be finalized and signed in 2015 but will only be applied by 2020.
Click here to read the full report titled Emissions Gap Report 2013.
