Countries' emissions pledges still fall short of global climate goals, UN says

Countries' latest pledges to cut emissions would fail to avert catastrophic climate change, the United Nations said on Friday, as pressure grows on polluters including China and India to set more ambitious targets before the COP26 summit in November. The U.N. COP26 conference aims to secure more ambitious climate action from the nearly 200 countries who signed the 2015 Paris Agreement and agreed to try to limit human-caused global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. A U.N. analysis on Friday said that under countries' current pledges, global emissions would be 16% higher in 2030 than they were in 2010 - far off the 45% reduction by 2030 that scientists say is needed to stave off disastrous climate change.