High School Students Take Initiative on Climate Change
Bryan Lee
March 9th, 2021
March 9th, 2021
According to a new United Nations (UN) report, countries are very far from achieving the amount needed to limit climate change to what the Paris Climate Agreement initially planned for. The UN announced that only 75 governments out of the 191 that signed the Paris Agreement (an agreement made in 2016 that set limits on carbon emission to countries) submitted their climate plans by the end of last year. “The world’s pledges are only enough to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to less than one percent below 2010 levels by 2030, which is “simply not good enough,” said Patricia Espinosa, the current UN’s climate chief. Espinosa further adds, “It’s incredible to think that just when nations are facing an emergency that could eventually end human life on this planet, despite every study, every report and the clear warnings from scientists throughout the world, many nations are sticking to their business-as-usual approach.” Despite the devastating effects of the global pandemic, many countries and their businesses are maintaining their production rates and are continuously emitting greenhouse gases. Hence, countries need to take on a more radical and transformative approach to climate change.
While some countries are neglecting the urgency of climate change, some are persistently working to combat the issue. Many nations, including the two “giants,” China and the U.S., have made long-term goals of net-zero carbon emission by mid-century. “It is just a matter of whether these nations will translate their long-term plan into immediate action,” said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The report pinpoints China and the U.S as the two that occupy 35% of the world’s carbon emissions, suggesting that the U.S could make a huge difference with President Joe Biden in office. The goal of the Obama administration was to cut emissions 26-28% from 2005 levels by 2025. However, as President Donald Trump took office, he pulled the country out of the Paris Agreement. With the beginning of the Biden Administration, which puts climate change as the “greatest challenge the country faces,” and the country’s return to the Paris Agreement, many wonder how the U.S will enter into the global conversation of the environment.
Source
https://www.politico.eu/article/un-climate-chief-patricia-espinosa-emissions-reduction-failure/
While some countries are neglecting the urgency of climate change, some are persistently working to combat the issue. Many nations, including the two “giants,” China and the U.S., have made long-term goals of net-zero carbon emission by mid-century. “It is just a matter of whether these nations will translate their long-term plan into immediate action,” said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The report pinpoints China and the U.S as the two that occupy 35% of the world’s carbon emissions, suggesting that the U.S could make a huge difference with President Joe Biden in office. The goal of the Obama administration was to cut emissions 26-28% from 2005 levels by 2025. However, as President Donald Trump took office, he pulled the country out of the Paris Agreement. With the beginning of the Biden Administration, which puts climate change as the “greatest challenge the country faces,” and the country’s return to the Paris Agreement, many wonder how the U.S will enter into the global conversation of the environment.
Source
https://www.politico.eu/article/un-climate-chief-patricia-espinosa-emissions-reduction-failure/
