Current global pledges to tackle climate change are the equivalent of declaring a pandemic without a plan for social distancing, researchers say.

In the Paris Agreement, nations agreed to limit global warming to «well below 2°C.»

But University of Exeter scientists say governments are engaged in «climate hypocrisy» by publicly supporting the agreement while subsidising the fossil fuel industry, destroying forests and pursuing other harmful policies.

Writing in the journal Global Sustainability, they highlight two other crises — ozone depletion and the COVID-19 pandemic — and call for similar action on the climate crisis.

The call comes as world leaders including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson discuss climate action and a «sustainable recovery» from the pandemic at the UN General Assembly.

«Restoring the ozone layer and minimising the COVID-19 pandemic both required governments to enact specific legislation to address the precise causes of these problems,» said Professor Mark Baldwin, of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute (GSI).

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