Nations' pledges to cut emissions called insufficient

BONN - Analysts tracking efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions say the reductions pledged by major economies ahead of an envisioned climate pact this year won't be enough to avoid warming the Earth by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) or more.

That's the benchmark governments have set to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

An analysis presented at UN climate talks yesterday by Climate Action Tracker, a joint project by four European research groups, projected that pledges made so far would lead to annual emissions of more than 55 billion tons in 2030. It said emissions need to be at least 17 billion tons lower to limit warming below 2 degrees C.

The US, China and other countries accounting for two-thirds of global gas emissions have announced targets so far.