Most countries miss UN deadline for new climate targets
BRUSSELS—Many of the world’s biggest polluter nations have missed a UN deadline to set new climate targets as efforts to curb global warming come under pressure following US President Donald Trump’s election.
The nearly 200 countries signed up to the Paris Agreement faced a Monday deadline to submit new national climate plans to the UN, setting out how they plan to cut emissions by 2035.
As of Monday morning, many of the world’s biggest polluters—including China, India and the European Union—had not done so.
“The public is entitled to expect a strong reaction from their governments to the fact that global warming has now reached 1.5 degrees Celsius for an entire year, but we have seen virtually nothing of real substance,” said Bill Hare, CEO of science and policy institute Climate Analytics.
The 2015 Paris climate accord commits nations to try to avoid global warming exceeding 1.5 C above preindustrial levels. Action to date has fallen far short of the deep emissions cuts that would achieve this. Last year was the first to breach 1.5 C of warming.
Withdrawal
Large economies that have announced new climate plans include the US, Britain, Brazil, Japan and Canada—although Trump is expected to scrap the US’s Biden-era contribution.
Trump last month ordered the US to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and paused some federal clean energy spending.
