IEA: Agreements Sufficient to Limit Warming to 1.8 Degrees

Countries’ commitments to combat climate change are enough to limit global warming to 1.8 degrees from pre-industrial times.

This emerges from a new analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA), director Fatih Birol announced via Twitter during the COP26 climate summit.

Countries that have pledged to become climate neutral must then keep their promises, Birol emphasizes. The commitments laid down in an international agreement to reduce global emissions of the greenhouse gas methane must also be implemented. This ‘methane pact’ was established under the leadership of the United States and the European Union.

Birol calls it “a big step forward” that it already seems feasible to limit warming to 1.8 degrees. This brings us closer to achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

At the time, it was agreed to try to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees. The IEA CEO emphasized that many additional measures are needed to achieve this.