14 DAY TRIAL // A report released by the United Nations ahead of an important international climate conference next week suggests that time is running out for countries to take the necessary steps towards ensuring that global warming is reduced to below 2 degrees Celsius for this century.
This value has been widely circulated as a threshold beyond which the effects of climate change would become irreversible. According to the new paper, the international community will exceed target carbon dioxide emission levels for 2020 by as much as 8 to 12 billion tons.
In order to avoid the 2-degree warming, the world would have to reduce its overall CO2 emissions by no less than 14 percent in 2020, a target that seems both unrealistic and unlikely. In the final year of the decade, the document predicts, CO2 emissions will reach 59 billion tons.
Scientists with the UN Environment Program, who developed the report, said that the target is still technically possible, but unlikely due to political influences and the states' inability to regulate their emissions, PhysOrg reports.