Supporters of the first federal youth climate trial in Canadian history hold up signs during a rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada on October 26, 2026. (AFP Photo)
The latest climate pledges put forth by nations will cut global greenhouse gas emissions just six percent by 2035, a U.N. report said on Oct. 27, weeks before COP31 talks in Türkiye.
That is a tenth of the roughly 60 percent reduction from 2019 levels that scientists say is needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, significantly down from last year's estimate after the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement.
The report by U.N. Climate Change is a synthesis of 154 countries' nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — obligatory submissions under the 2015 Paris deal — received between January 2024 and August 2026, covering 71 percent of global emissions.
It found that if the countries fully implemented their plans and also met conditional targets, emissions cuts would still amount to just 9 percent.
The U.N. last year estimated a 10 percent cut by 2035, but that was before a large number of NDCs had come in, leaving it to model the missing pledges, and before the U.S. was taken out of the equation.
Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has left the Paris Agreement for a second time and is pursuing policies that heavily favor fossil fuels.
Last week, the United Nations Environment Program found that global commitments to cut planet-heating emissions put the world on course for 2.6 degrees Celsius warming this century.
Scientists warn that every additional fraction of a degree above 1.5 degrees Celsius increases extreme weather events and the likelihood of irreversible changes to the planet, from dying coral reefs to melting permafrost.
