G20 Must Cut Emissions by 85% by 2030 to Meet Paris Deal Goals - Study

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The issue of climate change is expected to feature heavily on the agenda of the G20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, scheduled for September 4-5.

"To keep warming below the 2°C limit, the INDCs [Intended Nationally Determined Contributions agreed in Paris Climate agreement] of the G20 countries are still far from being sufficient: indeed the G20, together, needs to reduce emissions in 2030 by a further 85% – six times the efforts they have pledged so far," the report reads.

According to the report, despite the fact that the energy intensity and the carbon intensity of the G20 economies are both decreasing, it is not enough to compensate for an increase in economic activity, which has led to to an overall increase in carbon emissions among the G20 states, which are responsible for about 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

In December 2015, 196 countries signed the Paris deal aiming to limit global average temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by reducing emissions. The agreement will be open for signing until April 21, 2017. It will enter into force once it has been ratified by at least 55 states, accounting for at least 55 percent of global emissions.

The United States and China are considered to be the two nations responsible for the greatest amount of carbon dioxide emissions in the world.