UN report card on Paris goals gives 75 governments a 'fail' mark

Updated plans to reduce emissi­ons, submitted so far by about 75 nations ahead of November's COP26 summit, barely make a dent in the huge cuts needed to meet global climate goals, the UN climate chief said on Friday, calling for redoubled efforts.

A UN report summarising the revised climate action plans - covering about 40 per cent of countries in the 2015 Paris Agreement and 30 per cent of planet-heating emissions - said they would deliver a combined emissions reduction of only 0.5 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030.

"That simply is not good enough," said Patricia Espinosa, urging governments - including those that have already updated their plans - to come up with larger promised cuts before COP26.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said global emissions must fall by about 45 per cent by 2030 from 2010 levels to give the world a good chance of limiting the rise in average temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. Under the Paris accord, nearly 200 countries pledged to keep warming to "well below" 2C, and strive for a ceiling of 1.5C.

So far, the planet has heated up by about 1.2C, bringing worsening extreme weather and rising seas.

Espinosa said the synthesis report made clear "current levels of climate ambition are very far from putting nations on a pathway" to meet the 1.5C goal.

“It is incredible to think that just when nations are facing a (climate) emergency that could eventually end human life on this planet ... many are sticking to their business-as-usual approach,” she told journalists.

But if governments invest trillions of dollars in planned spending to revive their economies from Covid-19 on green, climate-resilient measures, "we stand a chance of changing the trajectory," she added.

Espinosa emphasised that the report released on Friday was just a "snapshot" of climate action plans to date and another more complete assessment would be compiled before COP26.