The Climate Action Tracker study looks at the latest promises from countries including China, as well as the plans off the U.

S President elect Joe Biden.

Mammogram has this from the U.

K's Wettest February on record to raging wildfires in California.

The fingerprints of climate change linked to human activities have become increasingly clear this year.

But efforts to curb greenhouse gas is the root cause of global warming has so far had a limited impact.

When countries signed the Paris climate agreement in 2015, they undertook to limit the rise in temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius this century.

But when scientists added up all the pledges made to cut carbon, they amounted to around three degrees of warming by 2100 would potentially disastrous consequences for the planet.

However, the last three months have seen some significant changes.

China surprised the world by announcing that the U.

N.

That they would aim for net zero carbon emissions by 2060 while President elect Joe Biden has promised that the US will achieve the same goal 10 years earlier.

Taken together, these steps would limit warming to 2.1 degrees, much closer to the Paris goal.

The scientists who have carried out this analysis say it's a significant step.

You can argue about the exact figures, but the trend is very clear.

We're moving in the right direction, and if we can clearly see that more and more countries are taking it seriously and put very serious targets on the table.

Researchers say there are still many difficulties, particularly the absence of short term plans from governments that reflect their long term promises.

But after many years of bad news, this new forecast suggests that the efforts to tackle climate change are beginning to bear fruit.