Greenhouse gas emissions play havoc, claims report

Greenhouse gas emissions play havoc, claims report

The Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region has become a global hot spot, warming twice as fast as the world’s average rate, and a major emitter of greenhouse gases. Temperatures could rise by 5 degrees before the end of the century, which is more than three times greater than the maximum 1.5 degrees C set by the 2016 Paris climate change accords adopted by 195 countries. This region, with 400 million people is pumping out more carbon dioxide than India, which has a population 1.38 billion. A study published in the authoritative US journal “Reviews of Geophysics,” showed that this region’s greenhouse gas emissions increased six-fold since the 1950s and 1960s while the global rate was 2.5 fold. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq account for 73 per cent of this increase. The other countries included in the report are Bahrain, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. The authors of the report from the Cyprus Institute and the German Max Placnk Institute said if the 17 countries in this region continue operating on “a business-as-usual pathway” there could be “unprecedented heatwaves” — with summer temperatures soaring to a deadly