Key highlights of this report published by World Resources Institute are:
• Ten years since the Paris Agreement was signed, this report card on climate action shows that global efforts across the highest-emitting sectors fall far short of what’s needed to limit warming to 1.5°C.
• While progress is heading in the right direction for most of the 45 indicators assessed, none are on track to achieve 2030 targets compatible with this temperature goal. The pace of change is promising, albeit still too slow, for 6 indicators and at well below the required speed for another 29. For 5, trends are heading in the wrong direction entirely. Data are insufficient to evaluate the remaining 5.
• Several bright spots underscore that rapid change is possible. Private climate finance has increased sharply, shifting from well off track to off track; solar is the fastest-growing power source ever; and nascent innovations like green hydrogen saw meaningful one-year gains.
• Yet such positive changes have occurred alongside far more troubling trends. For electric vehicle sales— the only indicator previously on track—growth slowed, such that progress is now off track for 2030. Efforts to reduce coal-fired power and deforestation remain well off track for multiple installments in a row. And even consistent year-on-year growth in renewables is not enough, as, with each passing year, the pace of change needed to get on track for 2030 increases.
• An enormous acceleration in effort is needed across every sector. By 2030, for example, electricity generated from unabated gas needs to be phased out seven times faster, declines in deforestation need to accelerate ninefold, and growth in total climate finance needs to increase four times faster.
Access the report here