Has the world met the main goals laid out in major international climate agreements?
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
By Austin Tannenbaum
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NO
The international community has failed to meet the goals outlined by the three major climate treaties.
- The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change aimed to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Atmospheric CO2, measured in parts per million, has increased every year since the agreement.
- The 1997 Kyoto Protocol required 36 developed countries to reduce their emissions “by at least 5% below 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008 to 2012.” The U.S. withdrew from the protocol and nearly half of the countries failed to meet their targets.
- The 2015 Paris Agreement seeks to keep global warming “well below” two degrees Celsius and aims for a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius. The 2020 United Nations Emissions Gap Report warns “the world is still heading for a temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century – far beyond the Paris Agreement goals.”
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