G20 countries projected to miss 1.5°C Paris target by wide margin: report

(EurActiv, 18 Nov 2020) The G20 will miss the 1.5°C warming target set out in the Paris Agreement, according to the Climate Transparency report published on Wednesday (18 November).

The report predicts that climate pledges and targets will lead to 2.7°C warming by the end of the century, 0.1% less than 2018, but well above the Paris goal of 1.5°C warming.

Recent climate pledges by China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union would take this number down to 2.3-2.4°C and a further reduction of 0.1°C is expected if America becomes carbon neutral by 2050.

“The implementation of current targets will lead to a 2.7°C temperature rise by the end of the century. There is a substantial gap. The question is how do we close that gap and how do we move towards 1.5°C,” said Deborah Ramalope, team leader for policy analysis at Climate Analytics.

Due to the pandemic, the report predicts that energy-related CO2 emissions from G20 countries will be 7.5% lower by the end of 2020 compared with 2019, but these reductions could be reversed by fossil fuel funding in recovery packages.

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EurActiv, 18 Nov 2020: G20 countries projected to miss 1.5°C Paris target by wide margin: report