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Paris Climate Pledges Will Fall Short, UN Report Says

A United Nations report says the emissions that countries pledged to cut won't be enough to hit the global target expected at the Paris climate talks.
Posted at 5:25 PM, Oct 31, 2015

You know that climate pledge everyone is expecting in Paris?

Where nations will commit to reducing emissions and aim for that 2 C maximum warming?

We won't hit it.

According to a new U.N. report that accounts for all the pledges so far, the absolute best case we can hope for is 2.7 C.

To get any lower, pledges have to get more significant.

The upside is the commitments have started. (Video via Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

The rate of growth in carbon emissions could be more than 50 percent lower in 2010-2030 than it was in 1990-2010. (Video via Exploratorium)

U.N. reps are hopeful this downward trend will accelerate in the coming years.

Either way, it's clear: Paris is more important than ever.

This video includes images from Getty Images. Music: "does not compute" by Birocratic / CC BY 3.0.