World climate plans 'severely off track' to cut emissions: U.N.

U.N. warns world "severely off track" to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius; current emissions-cutting pledges only minor reductions this decade. U.N. Climate Change chief calls for COP28 to mark "clear turning point" to avoid catastrophic climate impacts from floods, heatwaves, storms.

The world is "severely off track" to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid catastrophic climate impacts, the U.N. warned on November 14, as the latest assessment of current emissions-cutting pledges shows only minor reductions this decade.

In a report released just weeks before high-stakes climate negotiations, the United Nations climate change organisation said the world was failing to act with sufficient urgency to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Combined commitments from nearly 200 nations would see 2030 carbon emissions fall just 2% below 2019 levels.

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This is far short of the 43% fall that the UN's IPCC climate panel says are needed to limit warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius since the preindustrial era.

"Every fraction of a degree matters, but we are severely off track. COP28 is our time to change that," said U.N. Climate Change chief Simon Stiell.

He called for climate talks in Dubai this month to mark a "clear turning point" for a world already wracked by increasing floods, heatwaves and storms.