International
Climate plans would allow up to 2.6C of global warming: UN
| By AFP | Patrick Galey |
Country climate pledges leave the world on track to heat by as much as 2.6 degrees Celsius this century, the United Nations said on Wednesday, warning that emissions must fall 45 percent this decade to limit disastrous global warming.
The United Nations Environment Programme, in its annual Emissions Gap report, found that updated national promises since last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow would only shave less than one percent off global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The world has warmed nearly 1.2C since the start of the Industrial Revolution and already faces increasingly ferocious climate-enhanced weather extremes like heatwaves, storms and floods.
The Emissions Gap report examines the difference between the planet-heating pollution that will still be released under countries’ decarbonisation plans and what science says is needed to keep to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to between 1.5-2.0C.
A day after the UN’s climate change agency said governments were still doing “nowhere near” enough to keep global heating to 1.5C, UNEP found progress on emissions cutting had been “woefully inadequate”.
It said that additional pledges made since the COP26 summit in Glasgow last year would not even cut emissions by one percent by 2030.
Failure left the world “hurtling towards” a temperature rise far in excess of the Paris goals, it added.
“It’s another year squandered in terms of actually doing something about the problem,” the report’s lead author, Anne Olhoff, told AFP.
“That’s not to say that all nations have not taken this seriously. But from a global perspective, it’s definitely very far from adequate.”
The report found that in order for temperature rises to be capped at 2C, emissions would need to fall 30 percent faster by 2030 than envisioned under countries’ most up-to-date plans.
To limit heating to 1.5C, the gap is 45 percent.
Under the 2015 Paris deal, countries are required to submit ever deeper emission cutting plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs.
UNEP found that “unconditional” NDCs — which countries plan regardless of external support — would probably lead to Earth’s average temperature rising by 2.6C by 2100. Scientists warn that level would be catastrophic for humanity and for nature.
Conditional NDCs — which rely on international funding to achieve — would probably lead to a 2.4C temperature rise this century, it said.
All told, current plans are likely to see a five- to 10-percent reduction in emissions by 2030 — a far cry from the drop of nearly 50 percent required for 1.5C.
‘Missed opportunity’
UNEP said that in 2020, carbon pollution fell more than seven percent, largely thanks to Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions. A fall of that magnitude is needed every year this decade to stay on track for 1.5C.
But it said greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 could end up being the highest on record — some 52.8 billion tonnes — because countries threw themselves into fossil-fuelled pandemic recoveries.
“We see a full bounce-back in emissions after Covid,” said Olhoff.
“It’s a missed opportunity in terms of utilising these unprecedented recovery funds to accelerate a green transition.”
Separately, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday it believed global energy emissions would peak in 2025 as surging oil and gas prices spurred a drive to renewables.
But UNEP said that while the switch to greener tech in the power sector was accelerating, several industries were lagging behind in the push towards net-zero emissions.
For example, in the food sector, which is responsible for around a third of emissions, dietary changes and cutting food loss could help reduce the sector’s footprint by more than 30 percent by 2050.
‘Avoid as much damage as possible’
Olhoff said the financial sector was “part of the problem rather than part of the solution” to climate change, with hundreds of billions funnelled annually to fossil fuel projects.
UNEP suggested the introduction of an effective carbon price under a global cap and trade system that would push investors to consider the environmental impact of their portfolios.
It also called for central banks to make more funds available and help create global low-carbon technology markets.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday’s report showed the world “cannot afford any more greenwashing”.
“Commitments to net zero are worth zero without the plans, policies and actions to back it up,” he said in a video message.
Last year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that the world was likely to reach and even exceed 1.5C within decades, no matter how quickly emissions fall in the short term.
Olhoff said that for every year that passed without significant emissions cuts, 1.5C was getting “less realistic and less feasible”.
But she insisted that governments needed to accelerate the green transition to avoid as much damage as possible.
“The more we learn, it’s absolutely clear that we should aim to get (temperature rises) as low as possible,” Olhoff said.
“Even if that means 1.6C instead of 1.5C, that’s definitely better than 2C degrees, just as 1.7C is worse than 1.6C.”
International
Trump replaces Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday the departure of Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, one of the key architects of the administration’s policy of deporting undocumented immigrants.
Noem, who has been assigned a new role as a “special envoy” to Latin America, will be replaced starting March 31 by Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, the president said in a message posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
According to media reports, Trump made the decision after Noem’s recent hearings in Congress, during which she faced tough questions regarding the awarding of a major public contract.
International
Young Woman Will Represent Mexico at 2026 World Cup Opener, Says President Sheinbaum
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced Thursday that the young Mexican woman who proves to have the best ball control skills will receive her personal ticket to the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico City.
The left-wing leader had previously said she would not attend the tournament’s opening game on June 11 in the Mexican capital and instead planned to give away the ticket number 00001, reserved for her by FIFA.
During her morning press conference, Sheinbaum explained that women between 16 and 25 years old can participate by submitting a video through an official platform.
“What do they have to do? Keep the ball in the air for one minute,” she said, referring to the soccer juggling challenge that will determine the winner.
Among the judges selecting the winner will be Mexican striker Charlyn Corral, the world’s top female scorer who set a ball-control record in 2005, and professional referee Katia Itzel García.
Sheinbaum also revealed that she plans to watch the opening match during a large public gathering with giant screens in the Zócalo, located in the historic center near the presidential palace.
“Very few people will be able to attend the opening. So I will watch it here with the people, and a young woman will represent me and the people of Mexico,” the president said.
Sheinbaum has previously commented on the high cost of World Cup tickets, as well as the difficulty of obtaining them in a metropolitan area with more than 20 million inhabitants.
In the 2026 tournament, jointly hosted by United States, Mexico, and Canada, Mexico will stage 13 matches in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
The opening match will take place at the legendary Estadio Azteca, which previously hosted World Cup opening ceremonies in 1970 and 1986, occasions when the presidents in attendance were famously booed by the crowd.
International
Claudia Sheinbaum: Operation Against ‘El Mencho’ Was Based on Pending Arrest Warrants
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday rejected claims that the military operation that resulted in the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was carried out under pressure from the United States government.
Sheinbaum explained that the deployment of federal forces was aimed at executing outstanding arrest warrants against Oseguera Cervantes, who was considered one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States.
“That was not the objective (to ease pressure from the United States). It is very important, and I want to repeat it. This individual had an arrest warrant, or several,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the operation conducted on February 22.
According to the president, the initial goal was to capture Oseguera Cervantes, but military forces responded after coming under attack during the intervention.
“The operation was to detain him. The problem is that they were attacked — the Secretariat of National Defense — and they responded at that moment,” she said.
The president insisted that the action was not carried out in response to external demands, although she acknowledged intelligence cooperation with the United States.
“It was not done in any way because of pressure from the United States, not at all. Of course, there was intelligence information from the United States that was used specifically,” she concluded.
Trump replaces Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin
Young Woman Will Represent Mexico at 2026 World Cup Opener, Says President Sheinbaum
Claudia Sheinbaum: Operation Against ‘El Mencho’ Was Based on Pending Arrest Warrants
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Extension of the state of emergency approved in southern Chile
-
International4 days agoBrazil’s Supreme Court Rejects Bolsonaro’s Bid for House Arrest
-
International3 days agoSpain’s Prime Minister to Address Nation Amid Trump’s Trade Threats
-
International4 days agoAnti-ICE Billboard Campaign Targets Immigration Spending in 31 U.S. Cities
-
International2 days agoWhite House Says Spain Agrees to Cooperate with U.S. Military After Trump Threatens Trade Embargo
-
International2 days ago
Spain Denies Any Agreement to Cooperate with U.S. Military in Iran Operations
-
International4 days agoTrump Warns of ‘Major Wave’ of Attacks as Iran Conflict Escalates
-
International3 days agoNew York Announces First 2,000 Seats in Universal 2-K Program
-
International4 days agoMexico Calls for Immediate Probe After National Dies in ICE Custody
-
Central America3 days agoGuatemala’s Attorney General Fails in Bid for Top Court Seat Amid Corruption Allegations
-
Central America2 days agoNicaragua Held Responsible for Harassment of Opposition Prosecutor and His Family
-
International3 days agoWarner Bros. Developing First ‘Game of Thrones’ Movie With ‘Andor’ Writer
-
Central America4 days agoPanama Canal Monitoring Trade as Middle East Conflict Disrupts Shipping
-
International4 days agoBolivia Orders Three Investigations Into Deadly Military Plane Crash
-
International2 days agoClaudia Sheinbaum: Operation Against ‘El Mencho’ Was Based on Pending Arrest Warrants
-
International6 hours agoYoung Woman Will Represent Mexico at 2026 World Cup Opener, Says President Sheinbaum
-
International6 hours agoTrump replaces Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin