A new report by the UN's Environment Program is shedding an unsettling new light on the current path of global warming.
Released days before world leaders meet in Dubai for the COP28 summit, the report underscores that current pledges made by countries at the Paris Agreement are not enough to keep world temperatures below the desired 1.5°C (2.7°F) rise above pre-industrial levels.
Nine days from now, leaders will meet in the United Arab Emirates city to begin sessions of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, where new agreements are expected to be set in order to avoid a climate catastrophe within this century.
The Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 countries in 2015, pledging to do what it takes to maintain global temperatures below 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 °C (2.7°F).
Yet according to UN measurements, the planet is currently on track for a temperature rise of between 2.5°C (4.5°F) and 2.9°C (5.2°F) above pre-industrial levels before 2100.
According to Antònio Guterres, secretary-general of the ...