A draft U.N. report proposed the greenhouse gas emissions should be decreased by up to 70 percent by 2050 to lessen the detrimental consequences of global warming.
The draft report, consisting of 26 pages, obtained by Reuters served as the summary report of three scientific reports published by the U.N. in 2013. Once the report has been finalized, it will serve as a guide for almost 200 governments in formulating policies that will address climate change.
According to the report, the current pledges of the governments regarding the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that they are willing to trim down were not enough to halt warming by at least 2 degrees Celsius. This temperature was set by the U.N in 2010, and if maintained, it will prevent the development of fatal floods, storms, heatwaves, and rising sea levels. The report also stated that since the Industrial revolution, the global temperature has increased by 0.8 degrees Celsius.
To prevent the negative impacts of global warming, the report recommended reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 70 percent by 2050. The draft, which was prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), stated that decreasing greenhouse gas emissions should be primarily done by curbing the use of fossil fuels.
"Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming to 2 degrees C ... remain possible, yet will entail substantial technological, economic, institutional, and behavioural challenges," the draft report said.
If governments will keep their promise of combatting climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent will mean tripling the use of renewable and low-carbon energy resources such as solar and wind power.
The IPCC report also stated that human activities were found out to be the main cause of climate change and its effects. But, polls revealed that there are still a lot of people who doubt that climate change is man-made and believe that it is a natural phenomenon.
