1.5C target not achievable under current conditions, says COP27 host

(EurActiv, 14 Mar 2023) The 1.5C degrees warming target of the Paris Agreement cannot be attained unless the necessary instruments are put in place, according to Mohamed Nasr, the lead negotiator of last year’s COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

“What has pushed for more visibility of the 1.5C target is the amount of climate extreme events that we are seeing now that we are still at 1.1,” Nasr told journalists on 8 March.

At the COP27 summit last year, world nations agreed a package of decisions reaffirming their commitment to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and strengthen action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

However, there are concerns that the work done so far is not enough, and that more effort is needed to achieve the goal.

“Is it achievable? We are told it is achievable if the right ingredients and the catalysers are in place. Are they in place? No, they are not,” Nasr said.

“Let’s be very fair. Do we have the technology? No, it is still in the making. Do we have finance? No, it is being blocked, and it is still not up to the scale,” he added.

Nasr’s concerns echo a UN report released in October which showed that combined commitments from nearly 200 nations is putting the planet on track to warm by around 2.5C compared to pre-industrial levels by the century’s end.

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EurActiv, 14 Mar 2023: 1.5C target not achievable under current conditions, says COP27 host