Environment Counts | The 2013 UNEP Emissions Gap Report: a greenhouse gas update :

The 2013 UNEP Emissions Gap Report was released in November, 2013. It provides a comprehensive overview of the status of and progress under the Copenhagen Accord, including details of the parties which have submitted voluntary emission reduction pledges for the year 2020. The Accord set a target to keep the increase in global average temperature below 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels.

The report includes considerable data on greenhouse gas emissions to 2012. It states the most recent estimates of global greenhouse gas emissions are for 2010 and amount to 50.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2 e) per year (range: 45.6–54.6 GtCO2 e per year).

Relative contributions to global emissions from developing and developed countries changed little from 1990 to 1999.

However, the balance changed significantly between 2000 and 2010 – the developed country share decreased from 51.8 percent to 40.9 percent, whereas developing country emissions increased from 48.2 percent to 59.1 percent.

This is the fourth (annual) UNEP Emissions Gap Report. It reviews and provides data on national pledges and actions and focuses on forecasting the impact of greenhouse gas emissions under various scenarios to 2020. It assesses “the gap between ambitions and needs” indicating how far the response to climate change has progressed over the past year and whether the world is on track to meet the 2°C target. The report states “the challenge we face is neither a technical nor policy one – it is political: the current pace of action is simply insufficient”. UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2013