Countries with largest greenhouse gas emissions yet to revise targets
With the deadline for new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) approaching on September 30, the countries that signed the Paris Agreement have stepped up their efforts to submit their targets.
Since the beginning of the month, 16 more countries have submitted updated proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Among the latest submissions are those from Australia, Angola, and Chile.
A total of 50 countries have submitted their ambitions, but according to the monitoring platform of the non-profit environmental organization World Resources Institute (WRI), the targets cover only 24 percent of global emissions.
Major emitters – such as China, India, the European Union, and Russia – remain outstanding.
“The initial deadline was February 2025, and by then only 36 countries had submitted their plans. We managed to push it back a little to September, but so far many countries are still not on board. If we look at the G20 countries – the largest emitters – only five had submitted by the deadline – Brazil, the US, the UK, Canada, and Japan. We have a challenge ahead of us,” said Gustavo Souza, public policy director at Conservation International (CI-Brazil).
COP30
With less than two months to go before the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and UN Secretary-General António Guterres are hosting a special high-level event on climate action in New York on Wednesday (Sep. 24).
The event is part of Climate Week and, according to the Brazilian government, aims to encourage the presentation of new NDCs ahead of COP30.
On Tuesday (23), the Brazilian president highlighted in his opening speech at the UN General Assembly that “without having the full picture of NDCs, we will be walking blindfolded towards the abyss.”
