Emissions Gap Report 2012 - Executive Summary

One of the fundamental questions in the global climate negotiations is: what level of “ambition”, in terms of collective emission reductions, is needed to protect global climate? To help answer this question UNEP and the scientific community have published a series of reports on the “emissions gap1” since 2010. Of particular interest to the ambition question is the gap in 2020 between emission levels consistent with the 2oC climate target and emissions levels projected if country reduction pledges are fulfilled. If there is a gap, then there is doubt that the ambition of countries is great enough to meet the agreed-upon 2oC climate target