Report: Globe could pass UN warming target

If carbon emissions continue at current rates, the globe is set to surpass the United Nations’s (U.N.) temperature target, hitting roughly 4 degrees Celsius, according to a new report.

The sixth Low Carbon Economy report by international consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released late Sunday estimates the current rate of carbon emissions will “burn” through the 2 degrees Celsius marker set by the U.N. within 20 years.

{mosads}If countries are unable to reach an ambitious agreement during next year’s climate talks in Paris, the global average temperature will hit an increase of 3.4 to 4.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, the report states.

That means global leaders and corporations need to ensure carbon emissions are cut five times faster than the current rate every year from now until 2100, PwC said.

“This stark message comes in the run up to a critical series of climate negotiations, kicking off in New York and Lima in late 2014, then moving to Paris by December 2015 for the COP21 Summit, widely thought of as the last chance to secure a global agreement on action on climate change,” Leo Johnson, partner with PwC, said in the report. 

Scientists warn that if the average global temperature passes 2 degrees Celsius, global warming will increase drastically and feed “runaway” climate change. 

PwC says while more needs to be done — and fast — the E7 group of emerging economies is doing substantially more to grow its “green” economy and cut emissions. 

The report states the E7 group of countries, which includes China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey, did more work last year to cut carbon intensity than the Group of Seven, or G7, nations. 

The carbon intensity measurement means countries were able to boost economic growth while cutting back carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. 

The G7, which include the U.S., Germany and Japan, cut intensity 0.2 percent. 

“This indicates the possibility of the E7 maintaining economic growth while slowing the rate of growth in their emissions,” the report states. “As the main manufacturing hubs of the world, the E7 economies currently have total carbon emissions 1.5 times larger than that of the G7, a figure expected to grow.”

PwC said that would be a “critical development” if the E7 nations could maintain that progress.

It’s the first time the group has outpaced the G7 countries in maintaining economic growth while cutting back emissions.

The report also highlights the rapid growth of renewable energy sources as a reason behind the improvement by emerging economies. Renewables currently make up 22 percent of the global electricity supply, according to the International Energy Agency, and are expected to grow. 

In the U.S., however, President Obama’s climate agenda has been met with fierce opposition from Republicans in Congress, who have centered their fight to take control of the Senate around what they are calling the administration’s “war on coal.”

Recent reports also warn that negotiations in Paris next year to sign a global climate change treaty are unlikely to be ambitious enough to stay within the 2 degrees Celsius threshold.