Action needed to avoid disastrous overshoot of climate targets, according to organisation’s environment body

The world needs to cut carbon emissions by nearly a fifth in the next four years, and by close to half within a decade, to avoid overshooting climate targets by a disastrous margin.

Although the “window has closed” on holding temperature rises to 1.5C, in line with scientific advice, limiting the “overshoot” of that target is still possible, according to the UN Environment Programme (Unep).

But countries are failing to translate their long-term targets on reducing emissions into short-term actions, a report on the “emissions gap” between climate goals and policies has found.

    • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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      14 days ago

      At this point they just say it to show how hopeless our situation is. In 10 years they will say “World must invent time machine, go back in time and prevent AI bubble from happening to keep temperature rise below 2C”.

      • couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip
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        14 days ago

        China is still expanding with coal and pinky promising they will peak in 2030 before going down

        Expensive oil will help but won’t do enough

        • Malica@lemmy.zip
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          14 days ago

          China is doing much better than the rest of the world in converting to renewables imo, can’t happen overnight.

          • mildseason@sopuli.xyz
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            14 days ago

            Here’s a better chart with data until 2024. China really does need to start reducing their emissions soon or they’re gonna fuck us all.

            graph

            • HubertManne@piefed.social
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              13 days ago

              yeah I think it always needs to be pointed out that the rise in both china and india and the leveling off and falling in the us and europe are more a factor of offshoring manufacturing than anything else.

              • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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                13 days ago

                They’ve flattened over the last couple of years missing from that chart. Despite not stopping development and making the world’s shit.

            • AntOnARant@programming.dev
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              13 days ago

              Bloody hell, I thought chinas investment in green energy was the one good news story about climate change. This is surprising.

              • AA5B@lemmy.world
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                13 days ago

                It is. Y’all are also neglecting that during this period China modernized faster than anyone ever before. They brought hundreds of millions out of poverty and rapidly grew into a modern industrial power.

                China’s investment in green energy and transportation is a good news story about climate change and China’s investment in its people is a good news story about human well being (disregarding oppression an genocide of course). Up until now they grew faster than they greened, but those lines are crossing

              • oyo@lemmy.zip
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                13 days ago

                Per capita, China’s emissions are still far lower than the US.

    • hneerqe@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      Duh it’s not anthropogenic, obviously nothing will work. The ‘urgency’ will get worse and worse and all they’ll come up with is carbon tax, carbon allowance, restrictions for everyone except epstein class. Instead of prepping. Its so fucking obvious, I’m dumb as fuck and I can see it. Embarrassing.

      • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        I’m dumb as fuck

        Yes.

        Embarrassing

        Yes.

        It’s blatantly obvious climate change is anthropogenic there’s tons of evidence and overwhelming consensus amongst the scientific community globally.

        • hneerqe@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          Overwhelming consensus in ignoring space weather and the fact that climate has done nothing else other than change since eons.

  • wampus@lemmy.ca
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    13 days ago

    eh, we’re looking at a grim future either way at this point.

    Only way I can picture the world cutting by that amount, is if there’s a massive collapse of western civilization / the wealthy get purged, and technology goes backwards. We won’t do that willingly, so the world will instead continue its trajectory, with the worst of climate change impact hitting poor people – and rich people / wealthy people using their assets to eek out a mediocre lifestyle in the future. I doubt we’d totally die off, barring something truly cataclysmic.

    • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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      13 days ago

      I doubt Rosa Luxemburg was referring to climate collapse when she talked about the choice between socialism or barbarism, but here we are.

      • wampus@lemmy.ca
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        13 days ago

        Maybe. I’m not so sure socialism would really change anything though, on the aggregate in terms of climate collapses.

        Socialism isn’t by default Eco-friendly / Eco-conscientious. Capitalism tends to have all the benefits from climate destroying stuff go to a capitalist class – socialism could easily take the form of still pushing climate destroying stuff, but distributing the benefits to the masses. Depending on the scale of the change (which is likely to be massive), diversifying the benefits could result in no human surviving, rather than just a subset of the wealthy.

        For a random example to explain the thought, really ‘loose’ example admittedly. Under socialism, theoretically you’d have a fairer distribution of wealth so that housing would be more equitable – most people would get a simple starter-type home to live in. Rich person doomsday bunker type homes would be almost unheard of, as no individual would amass so much wealth that they could build em. In the socialist approach, each individual home has a smaller climate footprint, but the volume of homes built could have a similar net impact on the environment in the aggregate. So if it gets so bad that you need a bunker, humanity all dies together, equitably?

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      Nonsense. We just cut off 20% of the global supply of Petroleum with the Iran War.

      That, plus Ukraine and Russia obliterating their fossil fuel production capacity is going a long way towards tightening emissions.

      • sunsofold@lemmy.zip
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        12 days ago

        The only problem is how unprepared we are for it and how it’s not the 20% most pointless crap that will be left to rot. Many people would like to lose weight, but famine is a bad way to go about it.

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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    13 days ago

    Fat chance of that. The Trump Regime doesn’t give a shit about the future of the nation, let alone the world. So long as they have bunkers, our ‘leaders’ feel fine with dire outcomes.

  • Tiral@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    Well China opened like 50 coal power plants in 2025 alone, they have roughly 2,000 in operation. Second is India with like 230, and the US is third with about 213.

    So let’s guess where a good place to start is. Might fix the AQI so it isn’t pegged at 999, for reference New York City is typically 12-22.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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      13 days ago

      Well China opened like 50 coal power plants in 2025 alone, they have roughly 2,000 in operation. Second is India with like 230, and the US is third with about 213.

      So let’s guess where a good place to start is

      Not ordering cheap Chinese crap off Amazaliexprtemu?

    • NathanRanch@lemmy.zip
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      13 days ago

      Per person we’re still the biggest polluter. I don’t think it’s even that close. Feel free to check this.

    • Obviouslywrong@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Reserve plants are counted by how much they’re used which hasn’t been that high so far, not the total amount they could burn if used 100%. They are going all in on solar with coal backup.

    • mycodesucks@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Boy, do I have bad news about how much carbon is going to be burned when a major asteroid hits.

      We WILL get a mini-ice age from the blocking out of the sun though!

  • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    At the height of global lockdowns in early April 2020, daily global fossil CO₂ emissions fell by 17% to 19% compared to 2019 levels.

    Main Contributors to the Drop:

    • Surface transport (cars and trucks): ~43% of the total reduction
    • Industry and power generation: ~43% combined
    • Aviation: ~10% to 12%