Attempts to include a key scientific study in the global climate talks in Poland have failed. The Climate Change’s report by the Intergovernmental expert group on the environmental impact of temperature rise with 1.5°C had a significant impact when its work started in October last year.
Scientists and many delegates in Poland, however, were unpleasantly surprised, as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait opposed this report.
It is the climate conference in 2015 which marked the beginning of the remarkable study.
The report says that the world is already completely out of the previously outlined parameters by focusing more on raising the temperature at 3°C in this century rather than at 1.5°C.
Complying with the preferred goal will require “rapid, profound and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” Keeping the global warming at 1.5°C during this century requires that the carbon dioxide emissions be reduced by 45 percent by 2030.
The report, first presented in Incheon, South Korea, had an immediate impact, winning praise by politicians and scientists around the world. But the negotiators in Katowice had serious problems when Saudi Arabia, the US, Russia, and Kuwait opposed the conference that wanted to adopt the document.
Instead, they have asked to replace the phrase that the conference will “mark” the report.
Saudi Arabia has struggled to the last minute in South Korea to limit the conclusions of the document. Eventually, it did not succeed, but now other key players seem to share the objections at the forum in Poland. Others noted that Saudi Arabia and the United States did not oppose the report when it was first presented in October. The Saudis and Americans, however, appear to be more opposed to the political implications of engaging UN bodies.
Without consent, according to UN rules, the text had to be dropped. The small countries expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment of the outcome of the debates.
According to observers, this is a serious failure for the UN conference in Katowice, which had the ambitious task of boosting real attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
