By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The United Nations urged countries on Wednesday to set more ambitious climate plans during this month, seeking to pressure major economies including the EU and China ahead of this year’s U.N. climate summit.
The U.N. had asked countries to submit their plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, within September so that their efforts can be assessed before the COP30 summit in November in Brazil.
Most countries have yet to do so despite agreeing to submit them this year under the 2015 Paris Agreement. The updated NDCs should describe how each country plans to cut emissions by 2035.
In a letter to nearly 200 countries, U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell described the NDCs as “the cornerstone of humanity’s fight against the global climate crisis.”
“These national climate plans… are among this century’s most powerful engines of economic growth and rising living standards,” said the letter, which the U.N. published.
China, today the world’s biggest polluter, has said only that it will upgrade its target in the autumn.
The European Union is struggling to agree on its plan, and this month countries including France and Poland called for a delay in approving the bloc’s proposed 2040 goal, which would have informed the 2035 target.
The U.N. assessment will help indicate whether countries are on track to hold global warming to safe levels or if they need to step up their plans.
How governments respond will serve as a test of their climate commitment at a time when the United States – the world’s biggest economy and biggest polluter historically – pulls away from the effort.
Last year was the world’s hottest year on record, and the 10 hottest years on record all happened in the last 10 years. Climate change is worsening extreme weather across continents – from torrential storms, to wildfires and heatwaves.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Katy Daigle and Chizu Nomiyama )
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