China
2019.11.12 15:01 GMT+8

G20 nations fail to reduce emissions, China on course to meet target

Updated 2019.11.12 15:01 GMT+8
Alok Gupta

A coal-fired power plant in Utah, U.S., October 9, 2017. /VCG Photo

Most of the G20 countries are failing to reduce their emissions required to meet Paris Climate Agreement, aimed at keeping the global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius, revealed an annual report released by Climate Transparency on Monday.

The G20 dominates 85 percent of the global economic output and emits 80 percent of the global greenhouse emissions responsible for causing global warming. Despite access to vast resources and capital, the bloc's carbon emission shot up by 1.8 percent last year due to high energy demand.

These countries continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels, constituting 82 percent of the energy mix, which has come under intense scrutiny. A minuscule five percent rise in renewable energy couldn't offset the increase in the emission level, said the fifth edition Brown to Green report 2019.

Emission from the building sector witnessed the highest jump by 4.1 percent, and in the transportation sector, it increased by 1.2 percent. The G20 has to ensure net-zero emission from buildings by 2025 and the transportation sector also needs to meet the same target by 2050. Most of the countries have already announced the deadline to phase out the sale of fossil fuel-run vehicles.

Under the climate accord, nations would meet in 2020 to review the progress made to curb the global emission rate. Governments would revise the target set under the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to lower the emissions further.

"Just one year before the critical deadline, the findings give us hope that countries will find the political will to commit to higher emission reduction targets in 2020 as they promised under the Paris Agreement", said Alvaro Umaña, the Co-Chair of Climate Transparency.

While South Korea, Canada, and Australia are "furthest off track from implementing their already unambitious NDCs," China, the EU and its G20 member states, India, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are on the course to either meet or even surpass their targets.

"Overall, carbon dioxide emissions go up in all sectors, but we're seeing some front-runners emerging that others can learn from, like China's policies for promoting electric vehicles and public transport," said Lena Donat, one of the lead authors of the study.

"It [China] also has the most progressive public transport policy in the G20. Despite that, emissions in China rose again in 2018 after leveling out between 2014 and 2016," added Jiang Kejun from the Energy Research Institute.

Researchers also maintained that a few countries that have met their NDC targets also means that they did not declare "highest possible ambition" as required by the Paris Agreement.  

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