According to a new report by the World Resources Institute, the world is making progress on climate, but the progress is not fast enough. The report looked at 37 indicators of climate progress towards the goals set forth by the Paris Agreement. In some areas, the progress has been substantial, but in six areas, the world has been moving in the wrong direction entirely.
The rapid growth of clean energy has brought the world to the brink of peak fossil fuels, but to avoid the catastrophic effects of warming, countries need to build out wind and solar power nearly twice as fast and shut down coal plants seven times faster. There has been progress in curbing deforestation, but the world needs to stem forest loss four times more quickly. More work is needed to clean up heavy industry and the consumption of meat needs to be limited more than the present level.
Areas where things are getting worse rather than better include the use of public funds and subsidies for preserving the use of fossil fuels. Because of wars and supply shocks affecting energy markets, countries have actually ramped up fossil fuel subsidies to combat rising prices.
One area where the world is moving at the pace required to meet climate goals is in the sales of electric vehicles. EVs accounted for 10% of car sales globally last year and if trends continue, they are predicted to account for more than 75% of cars sold by 2030.
The faster-than-predicted progress on electric cars demonstrates that transformative change is possible and could happen in other areas.
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World Making Too Little Progress on Climate — Except on EV Sales, Report Finds
Photo, posted May 24, 2022, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
