Ahead of the UN climate summit in New York on September 23rd, where countries are expected to set themselves more ambitious targets and roadmaps than they did in Paris in 2015, Bill Hare of Climate Analytics looks at the emissions league table. There are some surprises at the top: Ethiopia, Morocco and India, though he points out being at the top can still be a long way from doing enough to meet the 1.5ā goal. At the bottom are Australia, the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Indonesia. Though clean energy keeps growing the emissions turnaround still hasnāt happened. In 2018, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached a historic high, with coal and natural gas being the major culprits. So all eyes will be on the 32 countries that produce 80%+ of global emissions.
It is almost five years since theĀ landmark Paris dealĀ was struck. Nearly 200 countries agreed to work towards limiting global warming to 1.5ā,Ā beyond which the planet is expected to slideĀ irreversibly towards devastating climate change impacts.
But few nations are on track to reaching this goal. Right now, weāreĀ heading to warming above 3āĀ by 2100 – and this will have catastrophic consequences for the planet.
32 countries produce 80%+ of global emissions
United Nations Secretary-General AntĆ³nio Guterres has called aĀ major climate summitĀ in New York on September 23, where countries are expected to announce more ambitious climate targets than they set in Paris, and solid plans to achieve them.
Ahead of the summit, letās take stock of the worldās best and worst performers when it comes to tackling the climate emergency.
TheĀ Climate Action TrackerĀ is an independent scientific analysis produced by two research organisations tracking climate action since 2009. It monitors 32 countries, accounting for more than 80% of global emissions. We looked in detail at who has made the most progress since 2015, and who has done the least.
Worst performers: Australia, U.S., Russia, S Arabia, UAE, Indonesia
AustraliaĀ sits firmly in the group of governments we labelled as actually delaying global climate action, alongside theĀ United StatesĀ (which under President Donald Trump has walked away from the Paris agreement altogether).
Other countries delaying global climate action with highly insufficient targets and no progress since 2015 are theĀ Russian Federation,Ā Saudi Arabia, theĀ United Arab Emirates, andĀ Indonesia.
Today,Ā Australiaās emissions are at a seven-year high, and continue to rise. The governmentās commitment to fossil fuels remains unwavering – from coal projects such as Adaniās proposed Carmichael mine in Queensland to hugeĀ new gas projects.
Australia is the worldās largest exporter of coal, providingĀ 29% of coalās global trade, andĀ last year also becameĀ the worldās largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Its exported fossil fuel emissions currently represent aroundĀ 3.6% of global emissions.
The surprising success stories: Ethiopia, Morocco, India
Ethiopia,Ā MoroccoĀ andĀ IndiaĀ top the list of countries doing the most to tackle climate change. In total, eight international jurisdictions have made good progress since 2015, including theĀ European Union,Ā Canada,Ā Chile,Ā Costa Rica, andĀ ArgentinaĀ (although they still have a lot of work ahead to meet the 1.5ā goal).
While India still relies on coal,Ā its renewables industryĀ is making huge leaps forward, with investments in renewable energy topping fossil fuel investments. The country is expected to over-achieve its Paris Agreement target.
So what are they doing right?Ā Costa Ricaās national decarbonisation planĀ covers the entire economy, including electrifying the public transport system, and huge energy efficiency measures in the industry, transport and buildings sectors. Costa Rica has also put aĀ moratorium on new oil production.
TheĀ EU is set to overachieveĀ its 2030 target of reducing emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and is in the process of considering an increase in this to at least 50%. It has recently increased its renewable energy and energy efficiency goals, and is sorting out its emissions trading scheme, with prices of emission units increasing.
This, together with past investments in renewable energy, have helped to achieve a 15% reduction in German electricity sector emissions in the first half of 2019. WhilstĀ Germany has missed its 2020 targets, it has begun a process to phase out coal no later than 2038 ā still a number of years too late for a Paris-compatible pathway.
Quitting coal is key
An increasing number of countries are adopting net zero emissions targets, many of them in the European Union, and some outside. Some,Ā like the UK, have dumped coal,Ā and are well on the way to achieving those targets.
A global phase-out of coal for electricity is the single most important step toward achieving the 1.5ā warming limit. At the latest,Ā this should be achieved byĀ 2050 globally, by 2030 in the OECD and 2040 in China and other Asian countries.
There are some signs of optimism here. OnĀ one estimate, the number of coal projects in the pipeline shrunk by nearly 70% between 2015 and 2018, and investors are increasingly wary of the technology. Yet coal is still set to boom in Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and Turkey.
Global emissions are still rising
In 2018,Ā energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached a historic high.Ā While coal reversed its recent decline, emissions fromĀ natural gas surged by 4.6%.
Renewable energy is the key to unlocking rapid decarbonisation. It already supplies more thanĀ 26% of global electricity generationĀ and its costs are dropping rapidly. To accelerate this fundamental transition, more governments need to adopt and improve policies that enable renewable technologies to be rolled out faster. This would contribute to low-carbon economic development and job creation.
Donāt forget about trees
Nowhere is the alarming rate of global deforestation more obvious than in Brazil, now in the middle of aĀ record fire season. It adds to damage wrought by President Jair Bolsonaro who hasĀ weakened his countryās institutional frameworkĀ preventing forest loss.
In 2018, Brazil recorded theĀ worldās highest loss of tropical primary rainforestĀ of any country – 1.3 million hectares – largely in the Amazon. The deforestation reached 7,900 square km in 2018, a 72% increase from the historic low in 2012.
The past few weeks have shown us what 1ā of global warming means.Ā Hurricane Dorian, fuelled by high sea-surface temperatures, wiped out the northern Bahamas. Temperatures in the 40sĀ set records across Europe. And in Queensland, the earliest fire season on record destroyed homes andĀ razed rainforests.
TheĀ predicted 3āĀ of warming by 2100 will bring a lot worse: widespread crop failures, dead coral reefs, more extreme heat waves and major threats to water supply and human health.
The world can avoid this, but time is running out.
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Bill Hare is Director, Climate Analytics, Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University (Perth), and visiting scientist, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
This article is republished fromĀ The ConversationĀ under a Creative Commons license. Read theĀ original article.