UNGA 2020: Covid-19 recovery plans ignoring emissions targets, study warns

Climate Action Tracker warns climate change has been put on back-burner as countries rescue economies

Some countries are using the coronavirus pandemic to reverse climate change commitments. Getty Images

The world’s worst polluting countries are not cutting emissions as they recover from the coronavirus pandemic and some are going backwards, damning new analysis has found.

Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an organisation that tracks emissions around the world, analysed more than 100 policies designed to rebuild the economies of the US, China, India, the European Union and South Korea.

The study, which was released as part of Climate Week NYC, run in association with the United Nations General Assembly, found the US, China and India were failing to address climate change as part of their recovery.

Only the EU and South Korea had put a “deliberate focus on a green recovery”.

It comes ahead of a crucial climate change summit, the UN Climate Change Conference, to be held in Glasgow next year.

The summit is widely viewed as the last chance for the world to agree to commitments to limit global warming.

Researcher Niklas Höhne said some countries were going backwards as they recovered from the pandemic.

“While we are seeing some positive intentions, the jury is still out as to whether these recovery packages can bend the emissions curve,” researcher Niklas Höhne said.

“While many can still shape how they implement their recovery package, so far only the EU and South Korea have put a deliberate focus on green recovery.”

He added: “Unfortunately, what we’re seeing more of is governments using the pandemic recovery to roll back climate legislation and bail out the fossil fuel industry, especially in the US, but also in Brazil, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Russia and Saudi Arabia, and other countries.”

CAT said under its analysis the world was on track for an average warming of 2.9C by 2100.

The warming will be 2.7C if targets as part of the Paris Agreement are met, researchers said.

Climate Analytics climate policy analysis head Deborah Ramalope said the effect of the economic downturn may lead to a slight drop in 2030 emissions.

“But this is only a delay and is highly unlikely to have any impact on long term warming. What really counts is how the recovery is shaped,” she said.

Only a handful of countries around the world have submitted new climate change targets in the wake of the pandemic.