Countries will have to be far more ambitious in cutting greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to effectively curb a rise in global temperature at 2 degrees C or less, according to a major new study.
The greenhouse gas modelling study is based on estimates of researchers at nine leading centres, compiled by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It reveals what Achim Steiner, UNEP's executive director, calls a 'Gigatonne gap' between projected emissions and those that could keep the rise in global termperature to no more than 2 degrees celsius.
The experts suggest that annual global greenhouse gas emissions should not be larger than 40 to 48.3 Gigatonnes (Gt) of equivalent C02 in 2020 and should peak sometime between 2015 and 2021.
They also estimate that between 2020 and 2050, global emissions need to fall by between 48 per cent and 72 per cent, indicating that an ambition to cut greenhouse gases by around three per cent a year over that 30 year period is also needed.
(peopleandplanet.net)
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