To Close Climate Goals Gap: Drop Coal, Ramp Up Renewables — Fast, UN Says

Countries will have to phase out coal and invest in renewable energy even faster than previously expected to keep global warming below perilous levels and fend off the most dangerous impacts of climate change, according to a United Nations report released just before the next round of international climate talks.

The world can meet more ambitious emissions targets with a major scaling
back of coal and ramping up of renewable energy, a new UNEP report says. 

The United Nations Environment Program on Tuesday released its annual report on the "emissions gap"—the distance between countries' pledged commitments for meeting the targets of the 2015 Paris climate agreement and the pathways that scientists estimate could actually achieve those targets.

The report, prepared by dozens of scientists and incorporating the latest scientific findings, includes new information to help negotiators zero in on more ambitious commitments that might achieve the Paris Agreement's most stringent target: keeping the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius since the start of the industrial era.

Read Georgina Gustin’s story on Inside Climate News - “To Close Climate Goals Gap: Drop Coal, Ramp Up Renewables — Fast, UN Says.”