6th November 2023
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I’m sure you’ve heard about Climate Change in the news, on social media and just in general conversation. The question is: do you really know enough about it to form valuable opinions yourself? When this slightly controversial topic comes up, perhaps you’d like to be aware of some recent discoveries, therefore being able to contribute? Climate Change is one of the biggest issues in current society and everyone know the basics, but the recent statistics are staggering. This article is a nice summary of some recent changes to Climate Action and some statistics that will make your head explode.
What is this recent ‘tragedy’?
Firstly, if you take anything away from this article, let it be this: a tipping point has been reached the past few days. There has been an unprecedented die off of warm water coral reefs around the entire world due to the rising air and sea temperatures. Since 2023, the world has reached an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperature averages. Categorically, this is one of humanity’s biggest losses due to the rich ecosystem that coral reefs provide for. Despite this not being too shocking, the confirmation was a sad day. Researchers believe that overshooting the 1.5-degree mark will be inevitable before 2030 which is something that most of us can’t fathom the severity of.
What makes this tipping point so detrimental?
The pressing concern: one tipping point causes global cascades of issues. For example, dieback of forests, mountain glaciers retreat, collapse of ice sheets and collapse of ocean currents. The reduction of all of these will massively increase greenhouse emissions, proving the vicious cycle we are currently a part of. Anyone can imagine some effects of increasing temperatures, but the true extent of the consequences is mind blowing. An example being the extreme weather events: catastrophic and cause a multitude of unnecessary grief. There were 150 unprecedented extreme weather events in 2024, along with the worst drought ever recorded in the Amazon rainforest.
In the future, this current coral reef tragedy will strip away the habitat of thousands, maybe even millions, of organisms, inevitably causing the extinction of species. Due to the interconnected nature of ecosystems, this will affect other food webs and will work its way up to larger marine species. Not to mention the human impact: billions of livelihoods will be affected due to the instability of marine ecosystems like fishing and tourism.
How are countries working together in Climate Action?
The Paris agreement is something that can be confusing: there is a multitude of countries that are part of it and many everchanging developments. In general, it’s an agreement where all the world’s nations agree to curb greenhouse gases, preventing temperatures rising by 2 degrees by 2100. Different countries have their own specific goals; some are working better than others! One issue to highlight is the linear approach that some countries take to tackle Climate Change. People don’t know how to deal with the everchanging tipping points that trigger other events; these disrupt any linearity.
Another currently relevant term is NDC’s which are Nationally Determined Contributions. Basically, they layout the specific climate goals of each country, in keeping with the Paris agreement. They aim to reduce emissions by another 1.4 gigatons of CO2 by 2035 compared to 2030. An example of a relevant NDC: the UK pledge to cut emissions by 81% from 1990 levels by 2035. This puts them on track to have Net Zero emissions by 2050. The UK and other G20 countries play a key role in global supply chains so it’s vital that they have ambitious climate goals, hopefully encouraging other countries to follow suit.
What is the current Climate Action being taken?
In the last year, countries have had to submit new NDC’s. Over 60 countries have currently put forwards new NDC’s like the UK, Brazil and Japan but they only account for 31% of emissions globally. Interestingly, albeit not surprising, countries which account for around 70% of emissions have not put forward new NDC’s. With the current NDC’s that have been submitted, emissions will be reduced by only 10% and a whopping 60% is needed to not surpass the 1.5-degree temperature increase. These NDC’s are discussed at COP30, which is the UN climate summit taking place from the 10th to the 21st of November 2025. Country leaders are meeting to discuss climate action and attempt to uphold previous climate agreements- and there’s plenty on the agenda!
What are the current actions of 2 big players in Global Climate Politics?
The final, current issue I’ll mention: the US has pulled out of the Paris agreement. Being the 2nd largest emitter in the world, this is worrying, especially because other rich, influential countries might follow suit. They aren’t leaving silently: President Trump is promoting ‘beautiful, clean coal’ and they are currently cutting climate finance and climate assistance overseas. This is another pressing issue because the US account for around 10% of the climate funding. However, to finish with some good news, China is now the clear driver of renewable energy, having been the largest polluter. And the impact is clear- in the first half of 2025, renewable energy surpassed coal as the leading source of electricity globally.
Hopefully, this is a clear summary of current actions towards Climate Change. Current politics regarding Climate Change are confusing, and it is a difficult issue but ensuring that people are educated on these topics is important.
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