Global climate commitments fall short – Unep

Current pledges to Paris Agreement would lead to 2.7°C of global warming this century

The world is on track for a global temperature rise of 2.7°C this century under current global climate commitments, according to the UN Environment Programme (Unep). The Paris Agreement in 2015 saw 196 countries agree to keep global warming to well below 2°C, and preferably below 1.5°C, this century in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. But individual national emissions reductions—known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)—to the agreement were voluntary, as compulsory commitments would have meant a deal would have been unlikely. Because initial NDCs were insufficient to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, a clause was included to allow countries to submit more ambitiou