April 3, 2025 | 08:59 GMT +7

  • Click to copy
Friday- 08:39, 03/02/2023

Business and consumers hamper climate fight: Report

(VAN) Corporations and consumers are the main obstacle to the emissions cuts needed to keep global warming to the 1.5 degree Celsius limit,...
Corporate responses and consumption patterns are 'undermining' efforts to cut emissions, the researchers said. Photo: AFP/Lionel Bonaventure

Corporate responses and consumption patterns are "undermining" efforts to cut emissions, the researchers said. Photo: AFP/Lionel Bonaventure

Corporations and consumers are the main obstacle to the emissions cuts needed to keep global warming to the 1.5 degree Celsius limit, researchers said on Wednesday (Feb 1), adding that "positive signs" in other areas are not yet enough to meet climate goals.

The report by a multidisciplinary team of researchers warned that staying within the 1.5 degree Celsius goal was "not plausible", but that this could change if societies stepped up their efforts to cut emissions.

"We see all kinds of positive signs, for example, the political protests, divestment decisions, climate litigation cases, transnational initiatives, this is all on the rise," said one of the study authors Anita Engels. "So you could think that we are really on a good track."

But she added: "We need to do so much more".

The report, the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook, assessed the plausibility of achieving the emissions reductions necessary to limit temperatures in line with the Paris Agreement.

That 2015 deal saw nations agree to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, preferably 1.5 degree Celsius.

Researchers looked at 10 societal factors that they considered to be the most important drivers of decarbonisation and found that currently none are yet at a level that would lead to the dramatic emissions reductions needed by 2050.

MEDIA "AMBIVALENT"

Using global databases and computer modelling, the authors found that seven social trends were moving tentatively in the right direction - including United Nations climate governance, regulation, litigation, and divestment from fossil fuels.

One - the media - was seen as "ambivalent".

But the two heading in the wrong direction were corporate responses and consumption patterns, which the researchers said "continue to undermine the pathways to decarbonisation".

The two are closely interlinked, said Engels.

"It would be so much easier if the way the products are produced is regulated in a way that (consumers) are not forced to buy climate destructive products," she told AFP.

The report said it was still too early to assess the potential impact of recent events such as Russia's invasion on Ukraine.

Researchers also looked at six physical processes around the planet, from the melting of ice sheets to fears that a deforested Amazon rainforest will transform into savannah.

Jochem Marotzke from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology said that these and other physical processes were important, but that "we're not on a slippery slope".

It was human agency that would prove most decisive, he said.

HD

(AFP)

Banks see a dire climate future - and ways to profit

Banks see a dire climate future - and ways to profit

(VAN) The nation’s top banks are quietly advising their clients on how to build a financial life raft - or perhaps life yacht - from the wreckage of runaway climate change.

Conflict and rising food prices drive Congolese into one of the world's worst food crises

Conflict and rising food prices drive Congolese into one of the world's worst food crises

(VAN) From FAO Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Brazil faces inflation risks as surging corn prices eclipse rice plunge

Brazil faces inflation risks as surging corn prices eclipse rice plunge

(VAN) Corn prices in the Campinas region have surged past 90 reais ($15.80) per 60-kg bag, the highest nominal level in nearly three years, marking a more than 23% jump year-to-date, according to the widely followed Cepea index from the University of Sao Paulo.

Breaking cycle of forest land grabs

Breaking cycle of forest land grabs

(VAN) Thailand’s efforts to address landlessness among its population has been a priority for multiple administrations.

Engaging the next generation in the connection between forests and foods

Engaging the next generation in the connection between forests and foods

(VAN) FAO, together with the Government of Italy, and a forest expert and a master ice cream maker from Italy, educate young students on the significance of forest foods at FAO Park.

The glyphosate debate

The glyphosate debate

(VAN) The EU has recently approved the use of glyphosate for another decade. Bárbara Pinho examines the controversial pesticide’s presence in British farming and considers the possibility of a ban in the UK.

The spread of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza calls for stepped up action, FAO says

The spread of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza calls for stepped up action, FAO says

(VAN) Averting losses of hundreds of millions of poultry crucial to mitigate impacts on food security, nutrition and affordability of poultry products.

Read more