The world's best hope to beat climate change is vanishing.
In just over five years, the world will arrive at its first major checkpoint on climate action: a 2030 deadline to meet a series of green targets aimed at avoiding the most devastating impacts of global warming.
These goals, set by governments, Wall Street, Big Tech and major polluting companies, are intended to put the global economy on a path to finally start reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere. Yet, far from being in retreat, carbon dioxide emissions hit?a new record last year. That means the world faces a steeper, far costlier and more disruptive journey to reach net zero by 2050.
And that was before the re-election of Donald Trump. With a second term in the White House running until 2029, Trump is unlikely to steer the world’s second-biggest polluter to decarbonize faster than the current pace. In fact, Trump has vowed to undo many of the nation’s?expansive climate policies?and?withdraw from global cooperation. The consequences will extend far beyond the US.
Even before any new slowdown resulting from last week’s monumental political shift, many targets pegged to 2030 deadlines are already in severe jeopardy. An exclusive analysis by?Bloomberg Green?finds that dramatic acceleration across many fronts would be required to hit end-of-decade milestones on the path to net zero. There are isolated pockets of progress, though those are rare exceptions.
Each year the world falls behind increases the risks of more extreme weather that will put millions of people at risk and threaten global economic growth. One recent?assessment?forecasts a 1C rise in temperatures would equate to a 12% hit to the world’s gross domestic product. “There are real impacts on people, planet, on industries, on economies, if we miss these goals,” says Sherry Madera, chief executive officer of CDP, a nonprofit that pushes companies and governments to disclose data on their climate impact.
Read a reality check on how current progress matches up to crucial 2030 targets and my latest with Hayley Warren, David Stringer, Julia Janicki:
https://lnkd.in/gE8bznNm
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