Pledges by industrialised nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 fall far short of the deep cuts widely advocated for tackling global warming, experts said on June 22.
Russia, the world's number three greenhouse gas emitter mainly from burning fossil fuels, said it would limit emissions to 10-15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, becoming the latest major industrialised nation to state its target.
Overall emissions cuts promised by industrialised nations in the run-up to a new UN climate pact due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December now average between 10 and 14 percent below 1990 levels, according to Reuters calculations. "These are very weak targets overall," said Knut Alfsen, research director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.
"I would personally hope (Russia) could be much more aggressive," said Bob Watson, chief scientific adviser to Britain's Environment Ministry and a former head of the UN Climate Panel. Russia's pledge actually means a rise from today's levels as its emissions are more than 30 percent below 1990 levels, depressed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and its smokestack industries. Watson said he had hoped Russia would set a 30 percent cut for 2020.
Average plans for cuts - including goals by the United States, the European Union and Japan - fall far short of a 25-40 percent range below 1990 by 2020 outlined by the UN Climate Panel to avoid the worst effects of global warming such as more severe droughts, floods, rising sea levels, powerful storms and loss of food production.
"Russia is one of the most energy inefficient economies in the world. It has a very strong self-interest to aim higher," said Nick Mabey, chief executive of the non-profit environmental organisation E3G.
"Projections show that if Russia fails to improve its energy efficiency it will not be able to meet its existing natural gas export commitments due to domestic demand," he said.
Developing nations led by China and India want industrialised countries to cut emissions by at least 40 percent - saying that evidence of climate change is getting worse - as the price for the poor to start acting to curb rising emissions.
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN Climate Panel, said failure to make such deep cuts would put the world on a path towards "dangerous" warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial levels.
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