A new draft set to be released by the United Nations says the world will need far tougher curbs on greenhouse gases, by both developed nations and emerging economies, to keep global warming from exceeding a promised ceiling, according to Reuters.
United States leads the "rich" nations on the amount of emissions released into the air, Reuters reported. These nations, including the U.S., would have to halve their emissions by 2030 from 2010 levels to keep warming below an agreed 3.6 Fahrenheit ceiling above pre-industrial times, the draft says, Reuters reported.
Asia, including China and India, would have to limit emissions to around 2010 levels by 2030 as part of a global effort, a tough goal for countries that say they need to burn more fossil fuels to help end poverty, according to Reuters.
"Stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations will require large-scale transformations in human societies," according to chapter 6 of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) due for release in Berlin in mid-April, Reuters reported.
The reality is most governments are not planning such tough curbs, due to the economically crippling effect it may have, according to Reuters.
If the world continues at the current rate, temperatures are on track to exceed the ceiling set by almost 200 nations in 2010, of 3.6 Fahrenheit above pre-industrial times, Reuters reported.
"The implications for all the big emitters are pretty stark," said Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, according to Reuters. "All of them now have something to worry about." Meyer has not seen the draft.
Developing nations have often quoted the previous IPCC report, in 2007, which said industrialized nations should cut emissions by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, but it did not outline such clear goals for emerging nations, Reuters reported.
Cuts by the rich are well short of 25-40 percent, according to Reuters. The European Union, the most ambitious of big rich nations, is considering cuts of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
