COP29: Another Global Climate Summit That Failed the World

What happened behind closed doors: half agony, half hope

Activists demonstrate in support of climate finance grants for poor countries at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 23 (Source)

On the first day of COP29, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its annual State of the Climate 2024 report, which tracks key climate indicators. And that would set the tone for the conference’s most crucial debates.

The report revealed that 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record, with global temperatures reaching 1.54C above pre-industrial levels. However, Saulo clarified that this spike doesn’t mean we’ve breached the Paris Agreement’s long-term targets since factors like El Niño can cause short-term temperature fluctuations.

Other numbers were staggering: Arctic and Antarctic ice has plummeted to “well below average” levels, while our oceans absorbed an unfathomable 3.1m terawatt-hours of heat — equivalent to 18 times humanity’s total energy consumption.

More troubling news followed when the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative released its State of the Cryosphere 2024 report, “Lost…