UN climate conferences are too beholden to oil and gas interests. Like-minded nations must come together to keep climate hopes alive.
The COP27 United Nations climate conference held in Egypt in November was a mixed bag (Nature 612, 16–17; 2022). Although countries recommitted to the goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement — to limit global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial temperatures — they made no commitments to phase out fossil fuels. Some even pushed to abandon the 1.5 °C target, saying it is not realistic on the basis of current trends. Thankfully, they were outnumbered.
This could well prove to be a temporary victory, however: the question of burying the 1.5 °C target will re-emerge later this year, at COP28 in Dubai, which is part of a major oil- and gas-producing region. The fight to decarbonize energy supplies is one the world cannot afford to lose.
At present, humanity is on a path to between 2.2 °C and 3.4 °C of warming, with 2.4 °C the most likely value if countries deliver on the emissions reductions they promised to make by 2030, according to the Climate Action Tracker, an independent group of researchers that monitors government action on climate.
Read the full article here.
Leave a Reply