Almost all global warming indicators behind target: report

The measures taken to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius are "lagging significantly," according to a new research released on Tuesday.

The report comes ahead of the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference going to be held in Dubai at the end of the month.

The report was published by a consortium of think tanks including Climate Action Tracker, the United Nations Climate Change High-Level Champions and World Resources Institute.

What are the findings of the report?

The "State of Climate Action" report found that 41 of 42 indicators assessed are not on track to achieve their 2030 targets.

It reveals that only one indicator — focused on increasing sales of electric trucks and the share of EVs in the passenger car fleet was on track to meet the goals that were set as per the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Another key finding of the report is that half of the indicators are falling behind by an extent so large that to get them on track, efforts need to be expedited twice as quickly as at present.

The report also reveals that six indicators are moving in a direction that's counter-productive to the goal of limiting global warming temperatures. Fossil fuels need to be phased out seven times faster but government subsidies for oil, gas and coal nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021.

"Despite decades of dire warnings and wake-up calls, our leaders have largely failed to mobilize climate action anywhere near the pace and scale needed," lead author Sophie Boehm said.

"There's no time left to tinker at the edges. Instead, we need immediate, transformational changes across every single sector this decade."

mfi/rc (dpa)