From accelerating the move to clean energy to planting acres of trees, leaders from more than 100 countries announced or reiterated new national climate action plans during a meeting on Wednesday as part of the high-level week of the UN General Assembly.
The game-changing summit was convened by Secretary-General António Guterres alongside President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva of Brazil, host of the COP30 conference which kicks off in November in the Amazonian city of Belém.
At the outset, leading climate scientists Johan Rockström and Katharine Hayhoe provided a stark assessment of global efforts so far to honour the Paris Agreement, the landmark 2015 treaty that seeks to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
‘A deep concern’
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Ten years on, greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming continue to rise, and annual global temperature change exceeded 1.5 degrees for the first time last year.
“This is a deep concern,” said Professor Rockström, chief scientist at Conservation International. “An even deeper concern is that warming appears to be accelerating, outpacing emissions.”
Yet it is still possible to meet the1.5-degree goal and the two experts highlighted solutions, including transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy sources and transforming food systems to eliminate waste.
“We cannot prevent this catastrophe alone. But together, we can. By setting stronger targets, moving on faster timelines, and making deeper commitments,” said Professor Hayhoe, a winner of the 2019 UN Champions of the Earth Prize.
More action needed: Guterres
Under the Paris Agreement, governments are required to submit climate plans called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) laying out bold action for the next decade.
The treaty has made a difference, the Secretary-General said, as projected global temperature rise dropped from four degrees to less than three over the past 10 years, if current plans are fully implemented.
“Now, we need new plans for 2035 that go much further, and much faster,” he said. “Delivering dramatic emissions cuts aligned with 1.5 degrees; covering all emissions and sectors; and accelerating a just energy transition globally.”
He stressed that COP30 “must conclude with a credible global response plan to get us on track” and outlined five crucial areas for action: accelerating the transition to clean energy, drastically cutting methane gas emissions, forest conservation, cutting emissions from heavy industry, and ensuring climate justice for developing nations.
Do your ‘homework’, urges Lula
With just a few weeks until COP30, President Lula wondered “whether the world will arrive in Belém with its homework done.”
He said that “the energy transition opens the door to a productive and technological transformation comparable to the Industrial Revolution” and NDCs “are the road map that will guide each country through this change.”
For its part, Brazil has committed to reducing all greenhouse gas emissions between 59 per cent and 67 per cent, covering all sectors of the economy, he said, and continues efforts to end deforestation by 2030.
Commitment from China and Europe
At the meeting, President Xi Jinping of China announced that by 2035, the country will reduce economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by seven to 10 per cent from peak levels.
The country will also increase the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 per cent, expand wind and solar power capacity sixfold compared to 2020 levels, and make “new energy vehicles” the mainstream in new vehicle sales, he said in a video message.
Meanwhile, “the clean transition is moving on” in the European Union, where emissions are down nearly 40 per cent since 1990, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
European countries are also “doubling down on global partnerships” and will remain the world’s largest providers of climate finance, she said, while also mobilizing up to 300 billion Euros to support the clean energy transition worldwide.
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Vulnerable nations ‘between hope and hardship’
For Belize, the 1.5-degree goal “is not an aspiration” but “a threshold between hope and hardship, between flourishing communities and forced displacement, between shared prosperity and irreversible loss,” said Prime Minister Johnny Briceño.
Its new NDC covers concrete actions, such as expanding renewable electricity generation to cover 80 per cent of domestic needs by 2035, restoring some 25,000 hectares of degraded forest, and planting a million trees over the next three years.
“But let me be clear, ambition can only succeed if matched by support for small climate vulnerable nations like Belize.
“This means scaled up, predictable finance; accessible technology and genuine partnerships,” he said, noting that “success depends on all of us acting with unprecedented urgency, solidarity and climate justice.”
