84% of CO2 emissions covered by net-zero targets

 From Simon Evans, deputy editor of Carbon Brief

India's net-zero by 2070 pledge means that 84% of global CO2 emissions are now covered by net-zero targets

Net-zero goals cover:

• 84% of global CO2
• 93% of coal use
• 80% of oil
• 65% of population
• 75% of gas

Net-zero, 30 or 40 years away, doesn't mean much without action in the meantime.  If emissions are to be reduced in a straight line from now to 2050, they need to fall by 3.5% of the initial emissions level each year.  Of course, as emissions fall, that absolute decline makes up an ever larger percentage of the level in the previous year.  By 2025, the annual decline needs to be 4% year-on-year, by 2030, 5%.  So any country not cutting its emissions by a minimum of 3.5% a year is not going to achieve net-zero by 2050.  Still, committing to net-zero also implies committing to annual and 5 yearly reviews.   So there will be some pressure to achieve something, each year.  We shall see how much of these commitments is just greenwashing and pie-in-the-sky.