The annual Emissions Gap report 2023 was released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on November 20, 2023.
- The report is the 14th edition in a series.
Key findings
- The report assesses countries’ promises to tackle climate change compared with what is needed.
- The report assessed countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which they are required to update every five years, to determine how much the world might warm if these plans were fully implemented.
- Today, the projected increase is 3 per cent. However, predicted 2030 greenhouse gas emissions still must fall by 28 per cent for the Paris Agreement 2°C pathway and 42 per cent for the 1.5°C pathway.
- The report finds the world faces between 2.5°C and 2.9°C of warming above preindustrial levels if governments do not boost climate action.
- Global greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.2% from 2021 to 2022, reaching a record 57.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
- Countries’ current emissions pledges to limit climate change would still put the world on track to warm by nearly 3 degrees Celsius this century.
- At 3 C of warming, scientists predict the world could pass several catastrophic points of no return, from the runaway melting of ice sheets to the Amazon rainforest drying out.
