The Emissions Gap Report by the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) finds that fully implementing the pledges associated with the Copenhagen Accord could, at best, achieve partial success in bringing down the targets of reducing emissions .The nations will fall short of cutting 5 gigatonnes of CO2 against the benchmark set for 2020 by the scientists.
If the highest ambitions of all countries associated with the Copenhagen Accord are implemented and supported, annual emissions of greenhouse gases could be cut, on average, by around 7 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2020.
Without this action, it is likely that a business-as-usual scenario would see emissions rise to an average of around 56 Gt of CO2 equivalent by around the 2020 date. Cuts in annual emissions to around 49 Gt of CO2 equivalent would still however leave a gap of around 5 Gt compared with where we need to be-a gap equal to the total emissions of the world’s cars, buses and trucks in 2005.
That is because the experts estimate that emissions need to be around 44 Gt of CO2 equivalent by 2020 to have a likely chance of pegging temperatures to 2ºC or less.
However, if only the lowest ambition pledges are implemented, and if no clear rules are set in the negotiations, emissions could be around 53 Gt of CO2 equivalent in 2020.
The Emissions Gap Report underlines that tackling climate change is still manageable, if leadership is shown.