Recently updated national pledges to cut climate pollution bring aggregated global climate targets closer to the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement, but remain insufficient to prevent the worst climate impacts unless further actions to reach net-zero by 2050 are taken, scientists say. A new report from Climate Action Tracker shows global temperatures will rise 4.32°F (2.4°C) above preindustrial levels, based on current pledges. While a small improvement that brings the planet 11-14% closer to climate stability, study co-author Niklas Hoehne, of the New Climate Institute said “that’s still catastrophic climate change, a situation that is basically not controllable and which we have to avoid by all means.” (AP, BBC, Bloomberg $)
