The world remains far off course from its climate goals, with current global emissions policies putting the planet on track for as much as 2.8 degrees Celsius of warming this century, nearly double the Paris Climate Agreement’s 1.5 degree goal. 

"The bottom line is that nations have had three attempts to hit the mark with their Paris Agreement pledges, and each time they have landed off target," said United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Inger Anderson, in the UN's 2025 Emissions Gap Report released on November 4. "We still need unprecedented cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, in an ever-compressing timeframe, amid a challenging geopolitical  context."

According to the UN's analysis, nations signed on to the Paris Agreement would need to cut their annual emissions by 33% compared to 2019 levels to keep global temperatures from rising by 2 degrees Celsius by 2035, and 55% in order to stay below the agreement's original 1.5 degree limit. However, countries are not close to meeting either of those goals at the moment, the UN warned, making it "very likely" that temperatures will rise beyond the 1.5 degree threshold within the next decade.

If global temperatures do end up rising by more than 1.5 degrees, getting back below that number by 2100 will require even faster and larger reductions to greenhouse gas emissions, and although doing so would be crucial, it would also be "extremely challenging," the UN noted.

"Every fraction of a degree avoided means lower losses for people and ecosystems, lower costs, and less reliance on uncertain carbon dioxide removal techniques," the UN explained in its report.

Matters have been further complicated by President Donald Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, roll back environmental regulations, and cut funding for billions of dollars worth of green energy projects. The UN estimates that Trump's policies alone will add back a tenth of a degree of warming, which would be enough on its own to create substantial environmental impacts on communities and ecosystems across the globe.

Read More: Struggling to Stay Green in the Time of Trump

To reverse this trend, the UN's Environmental Programme urged nations to take advantage of low-carbon technologies that are readily available today, including wind and solar energy. 

"The international community can accelerate climate action, should they choose to do so," the UN concluded. "However, delivering faster cuts would require navigating a challenging geopolitical environment, delivering a massive increase in support to developing countries, and redesigning the international financial architecture."