UNFCCC: Long-Term Climate Vision Urgently Needed to Realize Safe Future

The UN’s top climate official today welcomed a report that underlines how the world can keep a global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius. UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said: “This important report underscores the reality that at some point in the second half of the century, we need to have achieved climate neutrality—or as some term it zero net or net zero—in terms of overall global emissions.” “The report also emphasizes the wider important contributions that can be made to local and national sustainable development goals, if climate change is effectively addressed.”

The report, released today by the UN Envrionment programme (UNEP) in advance of the UN’s next climate conference in Lima, Peru sets out the pathways required to avoid dangerous climate change. The report clearly states that to stay within the 2 degrees Celsius limit, global emissions need to:

  • turn the corner around 2020 and be heading downward by 2030. By 2030, global emissions should be 15% or lower than in 2010.
  • be at least 50% lower than 2010 by 2050.
  • reach net zero sometime in the second half of the century, with any remaining emissions offset by re-afforestation and other means.

The UNEP Gap Report also focuses on the urgency to act now to achieve ever higher ambition before 2020. This year’s edition of the Emissions Gap Report focusses on opportunities from scaled up action on energy efficiency. These actions range from appliances, lighting standards and labeling to tighter building codes and vehicle fuel standards.

The report suggests that improved energy efficiency has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 3 to 7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2 e) a year. Other key findings of the report underline the wider, sustainable development imperative of addressing climate change.

Reduced air pollution & health threat especially in developing countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 7 million people die prematurely each year from indoor & outdoor air pollution, mostly in developing countries. Energy efficiency improvements reduce fossil fuel use and thereby also air pollution emissions, and save lives. One study states that 100,000 premature deaths could be avoided every year by 2030 in the US, the EU, India, Brazil, China and Mexico.

Further benefits:

  • Greater access to energy: Improving energy efficiency lowers energy costs and makes energy more accessible to poor and middle-class households.
  • Jobs: Energy efficiency projects provide millions of jobs worldwide with estimates ranging up to 7 million people through an acceleration of energy efficiency.
  • Increased industrial productivity: Improving energy use leads to lower energy use per unit of output which extends the life-time of equipment, reduces waste disposal costs, and lowers maintenance.

“To maximize benefits and ensure a safer world, we can and must use the powerful combination of short and medium term efforts to reduce emissions and increase resilience, together with a clear vision of our collective long term destination”, said Ms. Figueres.

See the Executive Summary of the UNEP 2014 Emissions Gap Report

See the UNEP press release on the UNEP 2014 Emissions Gap Report

Read the UNFCCC press release online

About the UNFCCC
With 196 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

Source: UNFCCC press release from 19.11.2014The UN’s top climate official today welcomed a report that underlines how the world can keep a global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius. UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said: “This important report underscores the reality that at some point in the second half of the century, we need to have achieved climate neutrality—or as some term it zero net or net zero—in terms of overall global emissions.” “The report also emphasizes the wider important contributions that can be made to local and national sustainable development goals, if climate change is effectively addressed.”

The report, released today by the UN Envrionment programme (UNEP) in advance of the UN’s next climate conference in Lima, Peru sets out the pathways required to avoid dangerous climate change. The report clearly states that to stay within the 2 degrees Celsius limit, global emissions need to:

  • turn the corner around 2020 and be heading downward by 2030. By 2030, global emissions should be 15% or lower than in 2010.
  • be at least 50% lower than 2010 by 2050.
  • reach net zero sometime in the second half of the century, with any remaining emissions offset by re-afforestation and other means.

The UNEP Gap Report also focuses on the urgency to act now to achieve ever higher ambition before 2020. This year’s edition of the Emissions Gap Report focusses on opportunities from scaled up action on energy efficiency. These actions range from appliances, lighting standards and labeling to tighter building codes and vehicle fuel standards.

The report suggests that improved energy efficiency has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 3 to 7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2 e) a year. Other key findings of the report underline the wider, sustainable development imperative of addressing climate change.

Reduced air pollution & health threat especially in developing countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 7 million people die prematurely each year from indoor & outdoor air pollution, mostly in developing countries. Energy efficiency improvements reduce fossil fuel use and thereby also air pollution emissions, and save lives. One study states that 100,000 premature deaths could be avoided every year by 2030 in the US, the EU, India, Brazil, China and Mexico.

Further benefits:

  • Greater access to energy: Improving energy efficiency lowers energy costs and makes energy more accessible to poor and middle-class households.
  • Jobs: Energy efficiency projects provide millions of jobs worldwide with estimates ranging up to 7 million people through an acceleration of energy efficiency.
  • Increased industrial productivity: Improving energy use leads to lower energy use per unit of output which extends the life-time of equipment, reduces waste disposal costs, and lowers maintenance.

“To maximize benefits and ensure a safer world, we can and must use the powerful combination of short and medium term efforts to reduce emissions and increase resilience, together with a clear vision of our collective long term destination”, said Ms. Figueres.

See the Executive Summary of the UNEP 2014 Emissions Gap Report

See the UNEP press release on the UNEP 2014 Emissions Gap Report

Read the UNFCCC press release online

About the UNFCCC
With 196 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 192 of the UNFCCC Parties. For the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. In Doha in 2012, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol adopted an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes the second commitment period under the Protocol. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

Source: UNFCCC press release from 19.11.2014