climate change

It’s the most potent evidence yet that countries are failing to meet a Paris Agreement goal of limiting global heating to that level as a decades-long average.

Political goodwill toward clean energy is probably weaker now in global terms than at any time since the 2015 Paris Agreement finally brought all United Nations members to the table.

The rate at which international environmental agreements are made has slowed significantly from a peak in the early 2000s, says Jean-Frederic Morin, a professor at Laval University in Canada.

Swiss Re estimates that insured losses from natural catastrophes will likely exceed US$135 billion in 2024, marking the fifth consecutive year in which the US$100 billion threshold has been breached.

Under a compromise, rich nations eventually agreed to commit US$50 billion more than called for in a draft agreement on Friday.

In an effort to get an agreement over the line, the US and EU negotiators had proposed that developed nations increase a funding commitment to US$300 billion a year.

Even before his election, the US was viewed as an unreliable climate ally, having failed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol more than 20 years ago and deliver on promised financial contributions.

“At COP27 and COP28, governments rejected draft rules on carbon removal, warning that they could weaken climate action… Now, these rules are moving forward without the same scrutiny.

They are laying the groundwork to bring back coal-fired power plants, gut science at the Environmental Protection Agency and neuter the modelling used by the federal government.

Longer, more severe heat waves degrade roofs and strain air conditioning and HVAC systems.