World falling ‘dangerously short’ on climate action—UN chief

PARIS, France (AFP)—Global commitments to cut planet-heating emissions are falling far short of the Paris climate goals and put the world on course for 2.6C warming this century, the UN warned Wednesday. The report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) lays bare the chasm between rhetoric and action when it comes to tackling global warming, and the challenges faced by political leaders at November's COP31 climate summit. Even if countries deliver their latest climate pledges in full, global temperatures could still rise 2.6C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, said the annual Emissions Gap Report.

That would blow past the historic goal agreed in 2015 in Paris: keeping warming well below 2C while striving for a safer 1.5C. Any chance of keeping to 1.5C had been "lost" due to decades of insufficient action, the report said. "The world can no longer avoid overshooting the 1.5 degree limit, and the consequences are already devastating," said UN chief Antonio Guterres in a statement to launch the closely watched report.

"Deadly floods, brutal heatwaves, raging wildfires, lost lives, crippled economies, deepening inequalities, and those least responsible are suffering first and worst." Overall, global greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 were broadly on a par with record levels in 2024, with the difference between the two years too small to call, the report said. Carbon emissions just from burning coal, oil and gas -- the main driver of climate change -- rose slightly in 2025 compared to the previous year. Guterres said deep and immediate cuts were needed to protect humanity from worsening impacts, but instead "emissions remain at record levels.

And national climate plans and current policies fall dangerously short". Sticking just with current policies would see warming hit 2.8C by the end of the century, the report said. - No country immune - Scientists warn that every additional fraction of a degree above 1.5C increases extreme weather events and the likelihood of irreversible changes to the planet, from dying coral reefs to melting permafrost.

The world has already warmed roughly 1.4C relative to pre-industrial times, and crossing 1.5C is expected in a matter of years. This latest UNEP warming outlook is worse than last year's because of the formal withdrawal of the United States from the Paris accord and upward revisions of historical emissions, sai…