‘Climate emergency’ declared by 11,000 scientists as they warn of ‘untold suffering’ if urgent action not taken
- New paper proposes six steps to reduce worst effects of climate change
- Plans by most countries under Paris accord not ambitious enough, separate report by Universal Ecological Fund shows
The plans of most countries under the Paris climate agreement are not enough to slow climate change, according to a new report published on Tuesday by the Universal Ecological Fund.
Almost three quarters of the 184 pledges made by countries to cut down on greenhouse gases were found not to be ambitious enough.
Only the 28 member states of the European Union and seven other countries – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Norway, Switzerland and Ukraine – are on track to lower emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030, the report said.
Also on Tuesday, more than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries declared a climate emergency that could bring “untold suffering” if urgent action is not taken to conserve the biosphere.
“Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any great existential threat,” the signatories say in a paper published in Bioscience Magazine on Tuesday.
“Despite 40 years of global climate negotiations, with few exceptions, we have generally conducted business as usual and have largely failed to address this predicament,” writes the alliance of scientists, led by William Ripple and Christopher Wolf of Oregon State University.