When President Donald Trump announced last year that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, other world leaders pledged that they would not slow their own efforts down.
But the fight against climate change has now hit a roadblock.
Several key countries are not meeting the commitments they laid out to reduce emissions even before the Paris Agreement was negotiated, heightening concerns about ongoing negotiations on how to implement the global climate pact.
Here in San Francisco, where California Gov. Jerry Brown has convened a summit of government officials, climate activists and environmental policymakers, enthusiasm runs high for a wide range of climate change initiatives that will move the needle on global emissions, but top figures in the climate world also acknowledge that current efforts are not enough to stem serious climate change.
“The world is not achieving the goals under Paris. It’s stalled,” Brown tells TIME. “We’ve got to wake up.”
A report released last year by the United Nations Environment Programme showed that current commitments will result in temperatures rising more than 5.5°F by 2100, far short of the goal of keeping temperature rise below 3.6°F. And countries aren’t even living up those promises. The report pointed to a long list of G20 countries who were not on track to keep their promises to cut emissions: Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea and the U.S.
The report was intended to galvanize countries into action, but progress has remained stagnant since then. An attempt to implement a strong climate change policy toppled the Australian Prime Minister last month, killing any chance that the country will reach its goal. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to forge ahead with national carbon pricing has received pushback that threatens its survival, not to mention his own political chances in his reelection campaign next year.
Some leaders at the E.U. — including the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker — have sought more aggressive action, but have received pushback from…
