Nations get moving on Paris Climate Accord, but the pace is slow: UNFCCC

New Delhi: Countries are increasingly aligning their policies and economies with climate action, according to a set of five reports published by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ahead of the UN climate talks in Turkiye next month.

The reports assess the progress countries have made towards tackling climate change and achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

"These reports are more evidence that almost every major economy - and many medium-sized and smaller economies - now see climate action as a central driver of economic growth, jobs, and affordable and secure energy," said Simon Stiell, executive director at UNFCCC.


Countries are investing in the clean energy transition, adapting to the impacts of climate change and building resilience, and there are international financial flows to climate action, the reports said.

But it is also clear that countries are not moving at the required pace. Greenhouse gas emissions are declining, but not fast enough to avoid more disastrous climate impacts and extreme weather.

The UN Environment Programme last week said the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 18% by 2030 and 45% by 2035 from 2025 levels to limit overshooting of the global warming target and help prevent events such as record heat waves from getting disastrously worse.

Stiell hoped that the COP31 presidency Turkiye's focus on practical measures to support greater implementation will "help address some of the key gaps."

UNFCCC assessed 127 new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), or self-defined climate action plans by countries that account for about 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Together, these pledges would result in global emissions reductions of around 6% by 2035 below 2019 levels.

Countries are required by the Paris Agreement to submit a report card detailing the progress on implementing their NDC targets.

UNFCCC has released its assessment of the first biennial transparency reports of 137 countries that have submitted them. Together, they accounted for approximately 85% of global GHG emissions in 2020. While 61 countries, representing 66.2% of emissions, have made progress towards achieving their targets, 27 countries have temporarily moved further away from their targets.

There has been an improvement in climate finance flows, according to UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance. A total of $1.9 trillion flowed into climate finance between 2022 and 2024, a 32% increase over previous years.

However, this includes all finance flows, including those from developing countries to other developing countries and investments in developed countries. Disparities remain in terms of where investment flows, with continued barriers for developing countries and shortfalls in adaptation finance.