UN says world likely to miss climate targets despite COVID pause in emissions

ZURICH: The pace of climate change has not been slowed by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the world remains behind in its battle to cut carbon emissions, the United Nations said on Thursday.

The virus-related economic downturn caused only a temporary downturn in CO2 emissions last year and it was not enough to reverse rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

"There was some thinking that the COVID lockdowns would have had a positive impact on the (…) atmosphere, which is not the case," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said at a news briefing.