Pledges to triple renewables, reduce methane and double efficiency will deliver huge climate savings

Triple renewables, double energy efficiency and cut back on methane by 2030 – that’s what it would take for the world to cut global emissions by 18 billion tonnes by 2035, according to a report by Climate Analytics.

The report, released at COP30 in Belem, Brazil on Thursday and timed for the crescendo of negotiations at the international climate conference, found that the rate of projected warming over the next decade can be slashed if countries do what they have already promised.

This would amount to a reduction of 0.9°C of warming – almost the entire 1°C improvement achieved since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

Climate scientist Bill Hare, founder of Climate Analytics said governments had already pledged to take these actions at previous climate negotiations in 2023 and these gains could be locked in with immediate action.

“One really important conclusion is – and it’s really important – these measures would, for the first time, reduce the rate of warming nearly halving it, as I said, by the 2030s and that’s got profound benefits for ecosystems, but also for people, agriculture adaptation,” he said.

Hare said this was important as the costs of adaptation were linked to the rate of warming, which meant that acting on these issues would make countries better able to adapt to changing environments brought by climate change.

Not even obstruction from US President Donald Trump could stop this change, he said, with the United States representing only about 15% of current annual global emissions and roughly half of its 52 states maintaining climate policies.

The proposal comes at a significant time in negotiations as momentum grows as a bloc of countries push for a clear roadmap to phase out oil, gas and coal to be adopted by the end of COP30 this year.

This push, however, has been opposed by countries associated with the Arab Group of countries that include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and the Like-Minded Developing Country Group which includes China and Indonesia. Opposition among these groups, however, is not universal.

Hare added that taking these actions – which represent a minimum – would “trigger the transition away from fossil fuels” but required significant finance to make happen.

“If you look at the numbers, it shows really significant reductions in fossil fuel use by the mid-2030s from these measures,” Hare said. “So that would also go a way towards implementing the agreement done in the first Global Stocktake to transition away from fossil fuels.”

See also: Australia fails in bid to host COP31, but Bowen will be president of negotiations

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