United Nations climate chief: Climate change deal will not include global carbon price

They also said it would just “dramatically slow” greenhouse gas emissions.

“Many countries have been healthily conservative in what they have put on the table, and that’s very understandable because they do not want to expose themselves prematurely internationally”, Figueres said. “And let’s make no mistake, despite this encouraging progress, we still need an agreement that reduces emissions even further and sets us firmly on the path to a fully decarbonized global economy”.

However, the U.N.’s assessment is sobering.

This finding also has major implications for the so-called carbon budget.

“Those responsible for climate change have responsibilities to assist the most vulnerable in adapting and managing loss and damage and to share the necessary technology and knowhow”, they said in a statement.

Gigatons of carbon dioxide are not the same as gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalents (the latter includes methane and other greenhouse gases).

What does it all add up to?

Assessing the report, Deputy Director General of Center for Science and Environment (CSE), Chandra Bhushan said,”the impact of aggregate INDCs is insufficient to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius”.

This month, the leaders of 10 companies that produce 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas recognized that current greenhouse gas levels were inconsistent with a goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times.

All of this rests on a large number of assumptions, not the least of which is that 2 degrees is actually a “safe” target – which many scientists doubt – and that these numbers will account for all emissions.

The United Nations report shows that the pledges submitted so far represent a substantial step up in global action and will significantly bend down the world’s carbon pollution trajectory. Total annual global emissions would rise to 56.7 gigatons in 2030 from 48.1 gigatons in 2010, the United Nations said.

INDCs will form the basis of the agreement expected to be reached at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP21), to be held in Paris, France starting at the end of November.

However, this still is way above the cherished objective of nations to not let the warming go above 2 degrees in the years to come.

And while the good news is that nations are more determined in their commitment to curb climate change, the bad news is that emissions figures may keep on rising despite these pledges. The new analysis has been represented a few weeks before Paris’ climate change talks in December, where delegates from more than 190 countries will decide how to deal with climate change in future.

However, the actions were not enough and “a pathway of progressive and incremental efforts, and of continuous improvement” should be built in an agreement set to be inked in Paris later this year, she added.