UN pessimism on greenhouse gases

GREENHOUSE gas emissions are on track to be far above the levels needed by 2020 to limit global temperature rises to 2C, experts have warned.

Without a rapid scaling-up of action, current pledges by governments to curb emissions by 2020 will put the world on a path to temperature rises of between 3C and 5C this century, the United Nations Environment Programme has warned.

And the gap has widened between projected emissions by 2020 and the levels which can give countries a chance of meeting the agreed target to limit temperature rises to 2C, it says.

The report, which comes ahead of the start of the latest round of international climate talks in Qatar, found that greenhouse gas levels are currently 14 per cent above what they need to be in 2020.

UNEP executive director Achim Steiner warned: “The world has already broken the speed limit in carbon dioxide and is still putting its foot down on the pedal even though it knows a T-junction is ahead.”