COUNTRIES around the world must urgently improve their targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions or face a catastrophic 3°C of global warming by 2100, the UN Environmental Programme (Unep) reported yesterday.

In its latest Emissions Gap report Unep said that commitments made under the Paris climate agreement don’t come close to what is needed to meet the basic goal of limiting warming to 2°C or the further target of 1.5°C.

It means that countries’ targets — called nationally determined contributions, after negotiators gave up and told states just to come up with their own numbers — haven’t improved in the two years since the deal was signed.