05/12/2023
How’re we doing on stopping the planet from slipping into climate disaster?
As world leaders arrive in Dubai at the world’s largest climate conference for tense talks on how to tackle the climate crisis, experts warn that “time is running out” to tackle the worst of its effects.
“We are living through climate collapse in real time,” the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has told delegates at Cop28, which comes after a year where words such as “unprecedented”, “extreme”, “record-breaking” and even “hellish” have become routine headlines when reporting on the climate crisis.
And while global heating is disproportionately impacting poorer countries — who’ve done the least to contribute to it — no country can think itself immune from catastrophe, said Simon Stiell, the UN’s top climate official.
“We’re now at the point where we’re all on the frontline,” said Stiell, speaking exclusively to the Guardian before the summit. “Yet most governments are still strolling when they need to be sprinting.”
But, while the headlines can seem bleak, we should not feel hopeless, scientists say. Researchers have urged a transition to a global economy that prioritises human wellbeing and cuts the overconsumption and excessive emissions of the rich.
“This year has seen communities around the world pounded by fires, floods, and searing temperatures – and the impact is devastating,” Guterres said. “Record global heating should send shivers down the spines of world leaders. And it should trigger them to act.”
Find out if this year’s Cop could force a course change for the world — as well as the 10 of the key ways the Guardian has reported on a world on fire —
