UN Acknowledges It Is Impossible to Achieve 1.5-Degree Climate Goal

▲ UN

The United Nations has effectively admitted that it is impossible to achieve the climate agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and has proposed a new strategy.

According to a climate change report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the 2nd (local time), the increase in global temperatures is highly likely to exceed the 1.5-degree target within the next few years.

Under the best-case scenario, warming is projected to peak at 1.8 degrees, and at 2.6 degrees if current policies are maintained.

This is the first time the UN has directly addressed the inevitability of exceeding the 1.5-degree target through an official report.

Previously, about 200 countries promised at the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises, expressing concern over the dangers that warming of more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels would cause.

However, due to the burning of fossil fuels and other factors, the Earth has already warmed by about 1.4 degrees compared to 1850–1900, and the past three years have been the hottest in history.

The report suggested that since it is virtually certain that the global temperature rise will exceed the 1.5-degree target, the goal must now be shifted toward reversing climate change.

This approach involves bringing global temperatures back below 1.5 degrees through warming reduction efforts after the temperature rise surpasses the 1.5-degree mark.

Regarding this, UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen explained, "1.5 degrees remains our goal, but now we must approach it differently, from above."

She also emphasized, "Countries with a greater historical responsibility for climate change must make the greatest efforts."

According to the report, lowering the temperature rise back to below 1.5 degrees requires countries around the world to go beyond offsetting carbon emissions and shift net emissions to negative.

To achieve this, extensive and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are essential, along with carbon removal technologies that capture and store carbon from the atmosphere.

Relying on carbon removal technologies is inevitable to lower carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

However, experts emphasize that this technology is not a silver bullet and that reducing fossil fuel use remains vital.

Richard Betts, a climate scientist at the UK Met Office and the University of Exeter who is a co-author of the report, said, "We cannot rely on carbon removal technology like an indulgence," adding, "We must reduce emissions with far greater urgency than before."

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