Lee este blog en español , The international Paris Agreement on climate change is structured around country-by-country commitments. These fundamental building blocks are known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, and they include actions on mitigation, adaptation and other climate goals. While many NDCs are impressive and serious, existing NDCs will need to be enhanced to allow us to reach the temperature goals stated in the Paris Agreement.

The phrase “major oil and gas producer” may conjure images of oil and gas wells in Texas or Saudi Arabia. However, about half of the world’s oil and gas is produced by middle-income developing countries, which the World Bank defines as those with annual per capita gross national income between $1,036 and $12,535. These nations are economically dependent on the highly volatile prices of oil and gas but have fewer resources than rich countries to deal with the global transition away from fossil fuels that will help prevent the most dangerous impacts of climate change. , Based on current combined climate pledges the world is on track for 2.5 degrees C (4.5 degrees F) global warming by 2100, and demand for oil and gas has yet to fall. However, as part of an effort to achieve net zero emissions and meet the 1.5C (2.7 degrees F) temperature goal, the International Energy Agency’s 2022 World Energy Outlook estimates that oil demand could decrease over the next three decades from 95 million barrels per day to less than 25 million barrels a day. During the same period, natural gas demand is estimated to drop from 4,200 billion to 1,200 billion cubic meters. At the same time insistence from vulnerable countries and others to cut dependence on fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic global warming continues.

In 2020, Joe Biden ran for president on the most ambitious climate action platform of any major presidential candidate in U.S. history. As President Biden reaches the midway point of his first term in office, it’s time to take stock of what his administration has accomplished, what is still a work in progress, and what is off track. , In 2021, with Biden’s signature Build Back Better legislation stalled in Congress, I graded the administration’s overall climate performance “incomplete.” Fortunately, with a new name and moderate revisions to its climate policy features, Biden was able to sign the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August 2022, raising his overall climate grade to a strong A-. But he will need to stay focused and implement superbly to maintain, and hopefully further improve, his grade.

The planet has already warmed by 1.1 degrees C (2 degrees F) due to human-induced climate change. Millions of people today are facing the real-life consequences of higher temperatures, rising seas, fiercer storms and unpredictable rainfall. Rapidly reducing emissions is essential to limit temperature rise and secure a safer future for us all, as is making major investments to protect communities from severe impacts that will continue to worsen. , Yet collective efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and adapt are currently not enough to tackle the speed and scale of climate impacts, meaning that some losses and damages from climate change are inevitable. How countries handle these losses and damages has been a key issue at UN climate negotiations and beyond.

March 20 marked the release of the final installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), an eight-year long undertaking from the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change. Drawing on the findings of 234 scientists on the physical science of climate change, 270 scientists on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability to climate change, and 278 scientists on climate change mitigation, this IPCC synthesis report provides the most comprehensive, best available scientific assessment of climate change. , It also makes for grim reading. Across nearly 8,000 pages, the AR6 details the devastating consequences of rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions around the world — the destruction of homes, the loss of livelihoods and the fragmentation of communities, for example — as well as the increasingly dangerous and irreversible risks should we fail to change course.

The past few years have seen ambitious, game-changing climate action from the United States. The Biden administration set a goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, and recent legislation — including the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and a newly proposed EPA regulation to supercharge EV adoption — puts the U.S. within striking distance of its target., But securing enough critical minerals to support a nationwide low-carbon transition poses a serious challenge.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes’ (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) has delivered another wakeup call about the need for drastic cuts to greenhouse emissions by 2035 to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change to human well-being and ecosystems. Carbon dioxide (CO2) may be the most well-known greenhouse gas (GHG), but others, known as non-CO2 or short-lived climate pollutants, also have a critical role to play in keeping the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) temperature goal within reach, while also improving air quality and protecting health. , Short-lived climate pollutants — methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are also sometimes known as “super pollutants” — remain in the atmosphere for less time than carbon dioxide but have a potent impact on near-term global warming. For example, methane has more than 80 times the warming power of CO2 in its first 20 years in the atmosphere. And about 45% of today's net global warming is driven by methane emissions from human activities. Moreover, methane is also a precursor for another powerful driver of climate change: tropospheric (ground-level) ozone.