The UN Environment Programme’s «Emissions Gap Report» is one of these nerdy sounding, but highly important reports. The executive summary is easy to read, and I think everyone should do that. The report calculates the gap between total global emissions and what they should be if we prefer to continue living on a liveable planet. This year’s editions finds a «massive gap between rhetoric and reality». With current policies, we are headed towards a world that is 2.9 degrees celsius hotter than the preindustrial average by the end of the century. For context: We are currently at +1.3, closing in on the Paris Agreement’s +1.5. And what’s particularly concerning: Last year’s report had the projection at +2.7 degrees. After years of – way to slow, but still – progress, the curve now trends in the wrong direction again.

From Weekly Filet #502, in November 2024.