UN says emissions must peak before 2025 for a liveable future

 

Humanity has less than three years to halt the rise of planet-warming carbon pollution, United Nations climate experts warned Monday, with any delay to peak greenhouse gas emissions likely to result in smashing through warming targets.

According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, emissions have to peak before 2025 and drop sharply to keep even the more conservative Paris treaty warming goal of two degrees Celsius in play.

“We are at a crossroads,” said IPCC chief Hoesung Lee. “The decisions we make now can secure a liveable future. We have the tools and know-how required to limit warming.”

Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change are considered the most authoritative assessments of the state of global warming, its impacts and the measures being taken to tackle it.

To keep global temperatures below 1.5C, 2C or even 2.5C, emissions must peak before 2025.

But in 2021 emissions recovered to record pre- pandemic levels of more than 40 billion tonnes of CO2 (40 GtCO2).