– by Sigurd Hole
«Published in time for the Fourth United Nations Environmental Assembly, UN Environment’s sixth Global Environment Outlook (2019) calls on decision makers to take immediate action to address pressing environmental issues to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as other Internationally Agreed Environment Goals, such as the Paris Agreement.»
Although the devastating impacts of climate change are already being felt around the world, the good news is: we can still limit warming to less than 1,5 degrees (IPCC, October 2018). But time is running out, fast. Even if every country meets it´s goals under the Paris agreement, we would still – with the current emissions trajectory – actually be on a course that could lead to 3 degrees warming by 2100. The Katowice COP24 Climate change deal of December 2018 is a step in the right direction, but still it remains to see whether it will actually lead to real change in carbon emissions. Either way, it is clear that to avoid disaster for hundreds of millions of people around the world we must act now, with boldness of vision and green, new ways of thinking and living.
