UN report warns for greater efforts against climate change

International efforts to address climate change are not reaching the goals of keeping global warming to below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to a United Nations report issued Monday. The report, which was issued just a month before a major conference on the issue is held in Durban, South Africa, lays out a list of options to achieve the goal. The options include more cuts in greenhouse gases from additional sectors, stronger accounting rules both within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and through other multilateral and domestic strategies, sharing efforts based on countries' capacities or contributions to the problem, and legally binding commitments. The report, Building the Climate Change Regime: Survey and Analysis of Approaches, was published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global environmental think tank with the support of the Irish Government. The report is the latest in a string of UN warnings that the world is falling behind in the battle against global warming. Last month, at a Leaders' Dialogue on Climate Change on the eve of the high-level session of the General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged governments to show greater commitment to the reduction.