Climate Change

Climate change is the long-term, global shift in weather and seasonal patterns.  The United Nations and 195 member nations have determined that the current pattern of climate change is due to greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere that are making the planet warmer and drier. “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020.” (Page 5, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2023 Report.) Experts advise that rapid and deep reductions in fossil fuel use are necessary to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

Through the Kyoto Protocol (2005) and the Paris Agreement (2015), governments have collectively pledged to slow global warming. But despite intensified diplomacy, the world is already facing the consequences of climate change, and they are expected to get worse. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere keeps rising, heating the Earth at an alarming rate. Scientists warn that if this warming continues unabated, it could bring environmental catastrophe to much of the world, including staggering sea-level rise, record-breaking droughts and floods, and widespread species loss.

Since the Paris accord, many of the 195 countries that are party to the agreement have strengthened their climate commitments, making pledges to curb emissions and supporting countries in adapting to extreme weather, during the annual UN climate conferences known as the Conference of the Parties (COP). However, the absence of U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping from the 2024 COP28 summit in Dubai has raised concerns about future climate commitments from the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters. (Council on Foreign Relations)