A wind turbine in Elgin, Scotland, United Kingdom. Photo by Alyssa Bossom/Unsplash
The virtual Climate Ambition Summit held on December 12, 2020 marked the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement. The gathering was an important moment for countries to see where we stand in the fight against climate change and for world leaders to share how they’re ramping up climate action.
In the lead up to the summit, a number of studies showed that despite important signs of progress since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, the world is not yet on track to limit global warming enough to prevent its most dangerous impacts. New WRI research found the world needs to ramp up the adoption of renewables 6 times faster, phase out coal power 5 times faster, transition to electric vehicles 22 times faster, urgently halt worsening deforestation, accelerate adaptation action and support to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F). The quicker we take action, the sooner we will benefit; bold climate action could yield a direct economic gain of at least $26 trillion by 2030 compared with business-as-usual.