NEW YORK - During the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, world leaders taking the podium to deliver their national statements might have not agreed on much, but there was one common thread that ran through most of their remarks: the need for urgent climate action.
With deadly floods in Pakistan, Europe’s hottest summer in 500 years, and with Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and United States hammered by ‘monster tropical storms’, it’s no coincidence that climate change has been in headlines worldwide pretty much every day for the past month.
These events haven’t only caused loss of human lives, but also caused suffering and the destruction of infrastructure and natural ecosystems.
As UN Secretary-General António Guterres told journalists on Monday: “we are in a life-or-death struggle for our own safety today and our survival tomorrow”.
Ministers are gathered this week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, for a two-day gathering that will pave the way for the UN Climate Change Conference COP27 in Egypt in November.
“On every climate front, the only solution is decisive action in solidarity. COP27 is the place for all countries – led by the G-20 – to show they are in this fight and in it together,” the UN chief has said.
World leaders not only need to honour the promises made last year in Glasgow but also scale up their commitments to get the planet back on track and limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the Paris Agreement.
This will take finance, addressing loss and damage in developing countries and transforming energy systems, among other efforts.
The bar is high, and people around the world suffering the worst climate impacts among a combination of related dangers such as famine, are waiting for their pain to be acknowledged.
The next time you get this newsletter, we will be on our way to COP27 in Sharm El-Sheik. From there, we will keep you informed of the daily developments, and, through the crucial voices of scientists, UN experts and young activists, explain to you just what decisions are being made and how they will affect you.
Today, we open our newsletter telling you about the huge responsibility journalists and news media have amid a changing climate, to not only inform but to ignite action and fight mis/disinformation.
We also share an episode of our signature podcast The Lid Is On, recapping how the high-level portion of the 77th General Assembly drove the climate agenda.
