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The effect of delays

This section is makes the very important point that failures to meet our emission targets (i.e. delays) will have serious consequences for the amount of CO₂ that builds up in the atmosphere.

Having a target does not necessarily mean that you will meet it. The government set us a domestic target for a 20% cut in UK CO₂ emissions by 2010. We will fail to meet this target.

Following the "Intended cut" line should give us a change in global temperature that is just below 2șC rise by 2080. Failure to follow this will lead to much more accumulation of GHGs in the atmosphere, and hence bigger rises in temperature.

The following graph demonstrate the dramatic effects of a 10 year delay in reducing our emissions. This would lead us close to the 750 ppm stabilisation line, with much more extreme consequences for climate change.

Note that the dotted-purple trend is the 10 year delay compared to the "Intended target". The next graph show the cumulative effects of this are hugely significant.

The key messages in this are that:

• We must not stray from the "Intended target" trend or else we risk allowing dangerous levels of CO₂ to build up in the atmosphere;
• The effects of delays from where our annual emissions are high (i.e. right now) will have more significant impact on the accumulation of CO₂, so we must act quickly.