104
The inflection point has already been reached in favor of renewable energy.
Globally, although renewables represent only 12.55 percent of the total energy mix, it
reflected a significant increase of 28 percent from 2015 to 2020. Soon, renewable energy
would be a sufficient alternative to fossil fuel for powering the global economy. The use
of fossil fuel which is harmful to the climate and environment and a threat to life and
other human rights will then be proscribed, from whence its extraction, processing, and
marketing shall be deemed as a human rights abuse and an illegal act as well.
IX. Recommendations
A. General
Despite science telling us that even an increase in global temperature of 1.5°C above
pre-industrial level will significantly harm natural and human systems, we are far from
“holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.”480 While more and more States have strengthened their commitments
and increased their ambitions in addressing climate change, this is still not enough to avert
catastrophic climate change in time. The latest IPCC report on Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) shows that, even if all current NDCs are implemented, the world
will still face a 2.7°C increase in temperature by the end of the century. There is an urgent
need for a significant increase in the level of ambition of NDCs between now and 2030,
a significant over-achievement of the latest NDCs, or a combination of both.481 There is a
“need [for] maximum ambition from all countries on all fronts.”482
There is a vital need for a 45 percent reduction in GHG emissions from 2010 levels by 2030
and to reach net zero emissions by 2050.483 Political will complemented by urgent action
is necessary to meet these targets, and everyone, from governments to businesses and
480
Glasgow Climate Pact, para. 20 (The full text of the Glasgow Climate Pact is available at https://
www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-full-text-of-the-glasgow-climate-pact/ar-AAQFBS4)
(last
accessed on Apr. 25, 2022).
481
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Nationally Determined Contributions
Under the Paris Agreement: Revised Synthesis Report by the Secretariat, FCCC/PA/CMA/2021/8/
Rev.1 (2021), available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2021_08r01_E.pdf
(last accessed Apr. 25, 2022), paras. 15, 29, & 150.
482
Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations, Speech at the COP26.
483
Id. at 4.
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