Opinion | At treaty talks, geopolitical theater for a polluted material world
A handful of fossil fuel producers show no interest in a strong, restrictive and legally binding instrument for plastic pollution.
Paris Agreement 2015
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U.N. climate transparency hampered by funding gap and internal controls
An internal audit found a US$31 million funding gap and deficiencies in U.N. Climate Change's Transparency Division.
World on track to breach Paris treaty and head to almost 3° C. of warming
Emissions must decrease 42% by 2030 to keep the 1.5° target alive. Instead, they're expected to rise 3% by then.
Threats of diminished U.S. role in U.N. returns with political season
Nikki Haley has adopted Trump's hard line against U.N. participation but stopped short of calling for total withdrawal.
U.N. sees no reduction of primary gases that cause global warming
Heat-trapping gases keep collecting in the atmosphere at a record rate, the U.N. weather agency found.
IEA forecasts renewables nearing 50% of global electricity mix by 2030
The International Energy Agency expects a far greater role for solar, wind and other clean technologies, with 10 times as many electric cars on the road this decade.
Clean energy buoys odds for Paris Agreement's preferred 1.5° limit
In 2015, nations committed to hold global warming to no more than 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, or preferably 1.5°.
Most of U.N.'s most powerful members to skip high-level meeting
Despite the absences, the politics of catastrophe and climate inaction toward Earth's impaired health await the assembly's annual gathering of world leaders next week in New York.
Leaked audio indicates U.N. climate summit host will try to limit scrutiny
In the recording, UAE officials anticipate a need to "minimize" attacks on the Gulf nation's human rights record when it hosts COP28 in Dubai later this year.
Global climate litigation to force action more than doubles in 5 years
As climate litigation increases, the body of legal precedent grows, forming an increasingly well-defined field of law.
After talks with U.S., China rejects multilateral 'pathway' on climate
China's President Xi Jinping took an apparent swipe at mulilateral approaches to the climate crisis at the end of four days of high-level U.S.-China climate talks.
Net zero targets on rise to achieve U.N. goals, but won't get the job done
Some 1,475 out of 4,000+ governments and businesses had net zero emissions targets, but "integrity" measures are lacking.
Odds are 2-1 of temporary breach to Paris treaty's lower limit in 5 years
The annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will likely be more than 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels for at least one year.
'Continuous advance' of climate crisis pushes 1.15° C. warming
Droughts, floods and heatwaves drove food insecurity and mass migration as communities on every continent were hit by massive costs, the World Meteorological Organization said.
Vanuatu's 'epic' win lets top U.N. court set climate obligations
Prodded by Vanuatu and other nations, the U.N. General Assembly will ask the ICJ based in The Hague for an unprecedented legal opinion on nations' legal obligations to fight global warming – and the consequences if they don't.
Nations back ambitious clean water and sanitation goals this decade
The voluntary commitments that came from the conference – the first such gathering since a U.N. water conference in Argentina in 1977 – fall far short of a legally binding agreement like the 2015 Paris Agreement for climate change.