National climate action plans point to lower-carbon future

Climate action plans submitted by over 140 countries this year showed that the world is in a transition towards a low-carbon future, though countries need to do more to effectively control global warming, a report released by the United Nations said Friday.

The report assessed the collective impact of climate action plans, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), from 146 countries which covered 86 percent of global greenhouse emissions, and found that if these plans were fully implemented, global emissions would slow down in coming 15 years.

According to the report, the growth rate of global emissions in the 2010-2030 period would decline by a third compared to the period 1990-2010. In 2025 and 2030, average emissions per capita would be 8 percent and 9 percent less than those in 1990 and 2010 respectively.

"The INDCs have the capability of limiting the forecast temperature rise to around 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100, by no means enough but a lot lower than the estimated four, five or more degrees of warming projected by many prior to the INDCs," said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

"We are moving in the right direction. It does indicate that the transition toward low-carbon economies has already started," she said.

However, the actions were not enough and "a pathway of progressive and incremental efforts, and of continuous improvement" should be built in an agreement set to be inked in Paris later this year, she added.

Besides emission reduction plans, 100 countries also set action plans to adapt to climate change. However, no developed countries mentioned a single word in their INDCs about their plans to provide financial and technological support to developing countries, the report said.

Such support is a legal obligation for developed countries as required by the Convention, under which the Paris agreement will sit.

"Industrialized countries will never be excused from leadership (in global climate actions), never, because they have historical responsibilities," Figueres said, adding that developed countries should show leadership by reducing emission at home and providing support to developing countries.