UN chief challenges world to agree tougher target for climate change

Global warming should be limited to 1.5C, not 2C, declares Christiana Figueres The world should agree to limit global warming to just 1.5C instead of the current target of 2C, the United Nations’ climate chief has said, in remarks that shocked the governments of developed nations. Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, said: “Two degrees is not enough – we should be thinking of 1.5C. If we are not headed to 1.5C we are in big, big trouble.” Scientists estimate that 2C of warming is the limit of safety, beyond which climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible. Last December at a UN climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, all countries reached a consensus on a 2C target, the first time the world’s governments had set a target limit on climate change. But Figueres said reaching 2C of warming would have a devastating impact, such as sea-level rises that could overwhelm low-lying islands and some coastal nations, and levels of warming in sub-Saharan Africa that could severely damage agriculture. Figueres was speaking at Carbon Expo , the annual conference of the International Emissions Trading Association . For Figueres to reopen the debate on the proposed target is regarded as dangerous by some countries, who fear that a push by the UN for a tougher target would derail the already fragile negotiations that officials have been trying to reconstruct after the 2009 summit in Copenhagen ended in only a partial agreement, amid acrimony and scenes of chaos. Developed nations and some rapidly emerging economies, such as China, want to stick to the weaker target of 2C, arguing that it would be impossible to opt for the tougher target at this stage. One participant in the talks said: “We need to be ambitious but realistic. Although it’s positive to start discussions about more ambitious targets, the UN Environment Programme concluded a while ago that countries will have to make more ambitious emission-reduction pledges [than they have done] if global-temperature rise is to be curbed at 2C.” Another participant said: “This is a big

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