It’s Halloween, which means costumes, candy, and scary movies. Fear turns to fun on October 31 because Halloween lets us seek scary thrills that can’t hurt us. When we feel like threats are closing in on us and things are getting truly scary, we just turn off the TV and turn on the lights. But there is one terror that we can’t escape, no matter the time of year.

We’re talking about climate change! Here are five of the scariest, most bone-chilling facts about climate change to get you in the mood for terror this season (and hopefully also scare you and your fellow trick-or-treaters into action to address it).

1. Within the next 2 decades, global temperatures are likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In its highly-anticipated Sixth Report in 2021, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that a certain amount of global warming is locked in and is irreversible. They reported that from 2011–2020, the global temperature had already reached 1.1 degrees Celsius above 1850-1900 levels. 

In 2024, global temperatures rose above 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time, and if this trend persists, we will have failed to reach our climate goals established under the Paris Agreement. As climate change becomes more severe, it is predicted to increase the frequency of “fire weather”, kill 70-90% of coral reefs at 1.5 degrees Celsius warming, and raise our sea levels globally by .3 meters above 2000s level.

Scientists estimate that we are on track to reach the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold by 2030 and reach the “tipping point” for climate change. Although the 1.5 degree threshold is considered by the signatories of the Paris Agreement as an acceptable level of global warming, every “extra bit of warming increases the severity of many weather extremes, ice melt and sea-level rise.” Yet, little has changed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It’s like the movie Don’t Look Up; we know what’s happening but we aren’t doing enough to change the outcome.

In 2019, global carbon emissions from fossil fuels and industry reached a high of 36.44 billion metric tons. In 2020, emissions from fossil fuels and industry fell by 5.8 percent due to COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis. Despite that year’s reverse trend, however, 2022 emissions were back up to 36.8 billion metric tons. In the latest estimates from 2024, fossil fuel and industry emissions reached a new record high of 37.41 billion metric tons of CO2.

Four years later, Professor Forster’s eerie words still hold true.

2. The last 7 years have been the warmest on record

In 2023, NASA announced that the summer of 2023 was the hottest summer on record globally, surpassing the intense heat experienced in 2016. One year later, 2024 is confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as the hottest year on record. 

And not only is food security severely at risk because of climate change, but our human security is as well. With temperatures rising due to climate change comes the risk of heat stress, the leading cause of weather-related deaths. 

As we enter the spooky season, the Washington Post reports that it will be an unseasonably hot one in the US. As a marine heatwave amplified by long-term global warming sweeps across the US, we are likely to experience temperatures above seasonal averages, with the Ohio Valley, Appalachians and Northeast predicted to experience 10 to 20 degree deviations.

 “Whether one year is a record or not is not really that important — the important things are long-term trends,” said Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Director Gavin Schmidt. The current long-term trend is that each year is getting hotter and hotter. 

Are you scared for our future, yet? Well get ready, because it’s going to get even scarier.

3. Our extinction rate is currently estimated to be 1,000-10,000 times the natural rate.

Imagine dressing up as a frog for Halloween and having to explain to younger generations what a frog was and why it’s gone. Currently it is estimated that  41%  of all amphibians species are at risk of extinction due to climate change — so this could be a reality if we don’t act soon.

Extinction is a natural phenomenon, claiming about five species per year. But some experts suggest we’re in the midst of the sixth mass extinction — one that is caused mostly by human activity.

According to a 2023 report, 48% of species are declining and on their way to extinction. It also revealed that the 33% of species listed as non-threatened by the IUCN Red-List are actually decreasing. By mid-century, over one third of the total species found on Earth are predicted to disappear because our extinction rate is currently 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate. In 2024, 21 species were declared extinct by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which tragically included the beloved Bachman’s Warbler.

Allowing this to continue is “a crime equivalent to tossing books from the Library of Alexandria thoughtlessly into a fire, erasing the shared inheritance of all mankind,” according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Science in a review from 2009.

Species diversity is crucial for ecosystem resilience, and without it, ecological communities will not have the strength to withstand change — especially not the change we’re throwing at them.

4. Climate change is already happening, and it’s detrimental to human life, too

The impacts to human health are much scarier than any child-eating clown movie.

Rising temperatures — coupled with cities that lack the capacity to minimize the accumulation and generation of urban heat and the increasing population of elderly — have increased heat-related deaths, according to an article published in 2024 by the World Health Organization.

A 2018 report concluded that the lack of adaptive capacities and effort toward reducing emissions threatens human lives and the national health systems people rely on, by pushing services to their limit and disrupting core infrastructure. Vulnerable communities are already being hit first and worst.

But hyperthermia is not the only risk climate change brings to human life. Pollution worsens air quality, and as of 2021, has been reported to be responsible for 1 in 8 deaths worldwide. This makes air pollution the second leading risk factor for death worldwide. 

A warming world also increases the intensity of natural disasters.

According to NASA, extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide.  This year, California saw one of the most destructive wildfires in US history in terms of loss of life, structural damages, and acres lost. In 2024, an intense wildfire in Chile killed 136 people, making it the deadliest disaster in the country since the 2010 earthquake and tsunami. Not only are the fires themselves deadly, but the smoke they produce is as well. As of this year, smoke from wildfires in Canada and the American West are predicted to cause more than 40,000 premature deaths per year. This is more than all the fatalities from car crashes in 2024. 

Hurricanes are reaching new extremes, too. According to scientists, 84% of Atlantic hurricanes between 2018 and 2023 were, on average, 18 mph stronger because of climate change. It has become immensely more difficult to escape these storms unscathed, and it will only get harder in the future.

Have you noticed that the Halloween season doesn’t feel the same either? If we can’t wear a full costume without sweating then something is wrong, right?

That’s because climate change is shifting the seasons. Over the past five decades, the vegetation season has become lengthened by an average of one month. This means that spring arrives earlier, while fall is delayed. This not only affects Halloween, but it might affect your Christmas plans too! Because of this change in seasons, many popular ski destinations around the world are forced to make their own artificial snow to stay open.

This change in season not only makes dressing up in a full-body werewolf costume uncomfortable but also disrupts the natural interactions between species, their habitats, and their migration patterns. 

BOO!

5. Many leaders still aren’t taking it seriously.

The world has been aware of climate change at least since the IPCC formed in 1988. Scientists and the public rallied around environmental policy, but many global governments had a different idea.

They were going to ignore it.

Countries contributing the most to global emissions have the best chance of curbing climate change, but leaders are doing little to address it.

Although it has been seven years since the Paris Agreement entered into force, none of the world’s major economies are on track to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

To outline steps to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change, parties submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years. February 10 was the deadline to submit updated NDCs, however, some countries failed to submit theirs, including many of the world’s major polluters. Although the US submitted their NDCs, they have since withdrawn from the Paris Climate agreement. Climate literacy is among the climate goals that have missed the mark. Climate literacy (as supported by an integrated K-12 curricula) is needed to prepare youth with an understanding of the climate crisis and skills to create solutions, yet not one country has thoroughly addressed it within its NDC.

Everyone may die at the end of horror movies, but we don’t have to.

We’re not in a Hollywood studio, helplessly in the hands of sadistic screenwriters. We can actively choose to change the ending of our story — and for that we should feel hopeful.

In 2019, younger generations took matters into their own hands and started striking for the climate. They skipped school completely to plead for an end to inaction toward climate change and demanding world leaders to undertake environmental reforms. A 2021 study revealed that 83% of people aged 16-25 feel that we have failed to take care of our planet and concluded that it is vital for governments to take “urgent” action against climate change. In June of this year, UNICEF described this eco-anxiety as “an emergent mental health problem.”

The next UN Conference of Parties (COP30) will be held this November. In this international meeting of heads of state and governments and stakeholders, countries will have an opportunity to heighten their ambition on climate change. 

After decades of inaction on climate change, we don’t have any more time to spare before it’s too late. Join the movement and add your voice to this urgent call for change. You can sign the Global Plastics Treaty petition, and spread the word to your friends! Or, you can donate to our Canopy Project, which organizes tree plantings all over the world, and take the effort not to buy clothes that promote Fast Fashion.

This Halloween we must face our fears. The human-made monster that is climate change won’t go anywhere if you just close your eyes or turn off the TV. Action and advocacy are the only way to flip the script — and not wind up like your favorite victim at the end of the horror film.

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On October 24, 1945, The United Nations (UN) was officially ratified by the United States, the Soviet Union, China, France, the United Kingdom, and other major signatories. Thus, today marks United Nations Day. 

The United Nations is the only global organization with universal membership, meaning nearly every country in the world (193 out of 195 recognized states) is a member. So it is the primarily and perhaps most important organization when it comes to tackling issues that need universal collaboration. 

The UN’s most important goals are maintaining international peace, the protection of the rights and freedoms for all individuals, and the continued improvement of economic and social progress for all. Here are three major international treaties the UN has facilitated in the face of climate change that are attempting to honor that role.    

The Montreal Protocol 

Adopted on September 16, 1987, The Montreal Protocol is the first treaty in the history of the UN to hold worldwide ratification. This treaty serves as a universal protocol to regulate the production and implementation of nearly 100 man-made chemicals known as ozone depleting substances (ODS), such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). This treaty came into being after scientists discovered a link between their release into the atmosphere and the deterioration of the ozone layer. The ozone layer is a natural protectant against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Without the ozone layer, life on Earth as we know it wouldn’t exist. Entire ecosystems, agriculture, human health, and wildlife would all be in jeopardy.   

A scientific report by J. C, Farman, B. G. Gardiner, and J. D. Shanklin in 1985 revealed a significant hole in the stratospheric ozone layer that meant harmful ultraviolet radiation (UVB) was reaching the Earth’s surface at elevated rates. UVB rays are known to cause non-melanoma skin cancers as well as reduce agricultural yields and impact marine life. It was this 1985 report that led to the Montreal Protocol two years later. 

The Protocol is a testament to what can be achieved when nations work together in the face of a global threat. Since its adoption, it has led to the phase-out of more than 98% of ozone-depleting substances compared to peak levels in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

It is thanks to the Protocol that by 2030, an estimated two million cases of skin cancer will be prevented annually. However the ozone battle is not over – in terms of environmental success, the 2022 UN Scientific Assessment Report on Ozone noted that ozone levels are likely to return to 1980 levels around 2066 in the Antarctic, around 2045 in the Arctic, and around 2040 worldwide based on compliance with the Protocol. 

The Kyoto Protocol = Future Environmental Legislation  

The Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and acted as the first addition to the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is an international treaty that committed industrialized countries and economies to decrease their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHGs which include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor, contribute to an overall increase in global temperatures, also known as global warming. This occurs through a process known as the greenhouse effect, which is when these gases trap the heat from the sun near Earth’s surface.    

The Protocol, which officially entered into force in 2005, established several methods to ensure countries stayed on track with their emissions usage. This included the international program known as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allowed for industrialized countries to invest in GHG emission reduction initiatives in developing nations. 

Each CDM that an industrialized country would invest in was eligible for a certain amount of emission reduction (CER) credits that counted toward their pledge for the Protocol. These initiatives could range from renewable energy projects, such as implementing solar panels in rural parts of the world to the construction of wind farms. 

Another large initiative under the protocol was to make use of natural processes known as “sinks,” which work to remove GHGs from Earth’s atmosphere. For example, planting trees helps to take up carbon dioxide from the air which would reduce the concentration of GHGs.

Through this collaborative effort, both industrialized and developing countries could meet their sustainability goals. 

While the Kyoto Protocol was a masterclass in diplomacy in the battle of combating climate change, the treaty itself presented a few challenges. Reports issued two years after the protocol first took effect illustrated that many countries were still on track to fail in meeting their emissions targets. Plus it pointed out that even if their h targets were met, it would prove to be of little significance to the environment. 

As a result the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, superseded the Kyoto Protocol as the universal global climate treaty. It called upon all countries (not just developing ones) to set emission targets.  

The Paris Agreement Hinges on Collective Action 

The legally binding climate treaty, the Paris Agreement, was ratified in 2015 and set out with the goal of limiting the average global temperature increases to below 1.5° C. If this goal is achieved, it will allow the 195 signatory nations to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.  

The Agreement, went into effect on November 4, 2016, and is a collective effort for countries (both developed and developing) to reduce their emissions in the face of climate change. 

A core aspect of the treaty is the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). NDCs are climate action plans that each country or territory bound to the Agreement must submit every five years, with the first submission beginning in 2015. In each NDC, the country or territory must outline the specific measures they intend to take to limit their GHG emissions along with having a biennial report on their GHG emissions. 

To ensure global warming does not exceed 1.5° C, global emissions must be reduced by 43% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Currently, we are not on track to achieve this goal. While 107 countries, as of June 2024, that are responsible for approximately 82% of emissions, have adopted net zero pledges through laws and policy changes, it is not enough. These commitments still fall short per the Agreement’s goals. 

If we are to achieve our 2050 marker of net zero emissions, it will take a collective effort of all governments, especially the large emitters, to strengthen their NDCs and take action today. 

As of January 20, 2025, President Trump pulled the US out of the treaty, which means that by 2026, the US will no longer have to commit to reducing their GHG emissions. As of 2023, The US is responsible for 12.9% of global carbon dioxide emissions.       

The Time for Climate Action Is Now  

Over the decades, the UN has shown that it is committed to developing environmental treaties that will offer solutions and initiatives toward limiting and mitigating climate change. 

However, words and documents are not enough to drive real change. We must continue to hold the UN truly accountable, along with our governments, to push for real climate reform policies.  

To be a part of the ongoing mission to preserve and protect the planet we all call home, sign our Renewable Energy Petition to voice your urgencies toward global leaders to commit to phasing out fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy, and continuing to abide by the goals as addressed in the Paris Agreement.

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On December 12, 2015, 194 parties (193 countries plus the EU) officially committed to the Paris Agreement, which outlines the United Nations’ (UN) substantial goals to circumvent the worst effects of climate change. The Agreement primarily holds world nations accountable for limiting the global average temperature to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon emissions would need to decline by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 to limit global warming to just above 1.5ºC. 

Research conducted by leading scientists with the IPCC and NASA highlight the dire implications of passing the 2ºC threshold and the urgent need to stay within the 1.5ºC limit. 

The bad news: Barring significant policy changes among world nations, we are currently on track to hit  a 2ºC increase by 2040. The ramifications of exceeding EVEN the 1.5ºC limit include sea level rise and continued warmer temperatures that would likely last millennia. These large-scale effects would devastate ecosystems around the globe, exacerbating existing problems such as droughts, floods, agricultural issues, and the destruction of human and animal habitats.

Under the Paris Agreement, nations are held accountable for preventing these devastating outcomes. The Agreement, which officially entered into force on November 4, 2016, outlines how the UN will “periodically assess” nations’ progress toward individual goals and finance climate change mitigation and resilience efforts in developing countries.  This is where National Determined Contributions, also known as “NDCs,” come into play.

Decoding Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 

Nationally Determined Contributions refer to each country’s individual contributions to the Paris Agreement; it essentially lists out the commitments that each nation is making to mitigate climate change, and these promises are updated every five years. 

NDCs take a broad approach by involving key sectors like energy, industry, agriculture, and transport. This ensures that climate action efforts are comprehensive and reflect the unique needs and energy capabilities of each country. The main aim is to outline how each nation can reduce emissions, which often includes shifting to renewable energy sources.

The third round of NDCs IS due to be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by early 2025 and for many nations, educating the public about the human impact on climate has become a priority. It’s also a key priority for EARTHDAY.ORG and an issue we’ve been championing for two decades. 

Why Climate Education? 

Widespread climate education is crucial to winning public support for climate friendly government policies worldwide, whether by backing the transition toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels or limiting the production of plastics, which are derived from oil, and are a significant  contributor to the production of greenhouse gases. 

Plus, teaching climate education is important in green skilling both the present and future work- forces, which are desperately needed to grow the emerging clean energy industries of solar, wind, hydro, tidal and geothermal. As well as a whole range of other new green economy jobs. 

We also know that if students are taught the facts about the climate crisis and not force-fed opinions, they are much more likely to make planet-friendly choices in their own lives and spot misinformation as they encounter it.  

Climate education is already making a huge impact on our management of the climate crisis and it is vital that it is included in every single nation’s NDCs. While many developed nations like the U.S. have yet to include climate education goals in their NDCs, economically developing countries such as Cambodia, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic have included it in their NDCs already.  

For example, Cambodia’s NDCs includes building centers of excellence for climate change research at universities and requiring education officials to be trained on climate change. Colombia stipulates that climate education must be included in all formal and non-formal education and Costa Rica has specified that it must be taught in all elementary and secondary schools. 

You can  learn more about which countries are backing climate education and which need to do much more by using our Climate Education NDCs Tracker. 

It is a comprehensive tool to monitor the inclusion of climate education in NDCs worldwide, highlighting national priorities and gaps. If you want to take a deep dive into the world of climate education and its inclusion in NDCs, it is a great place to start and a useful resource for research and articles.

The post The NDC Playbook: How Climate Education Can Power the Paris Agreement appeared first on Earth Day.

The planet is experiencing the fastest extinction rate since the dinosaurs were struck by a meteor 65 million years ago. However, we can’t blame this unprecedented loss of biodiversity on a hurtling rock from outer space. This time, human activity is the perpetrator.

In response to this crisis, governments came together in Montreal this December for the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP 15), hallmarked as the “most significant conference on biodiversity in a decade” by the UN Development Programme. Here, global leaders were tasked with designing and developing a new Global Biodiversity Framework that would implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Negotiations stretched across a range of topics, including reversing this extinction trend, improving biodiversity finance, land protection, agriculture, oceans, indigenous rights, and more. 

After only four months since COP15’s conclusion, here are three major takeaways you should know about the final agreement: 

• A Paris Agreement for Biodiversity? 

No goals from The Aichi Targets, the previous framework for upholding the Convention on Biological Diversity, were met by their 2020 deadline. COP15, originally scheduled for 2020, responded to pressures from the international community to create a sister-deal to the 2015 UN Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In other words, the successor framework for the Aichi Targets must inspire countries to adhere to biodiversity goals by 2030. 

On the last day of the conference, nations adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which established four overarching goals and 11 action-based targets. The GBF established 30×30 as the headlining goal, which sets out to protect 30% of the planet and restore 30% of degraded land by 2030. Other key targets are supporting sustainable development, utilizing and sharing genetics technology, cutting the use of pollutants by half, integrating private businesses in biodiversity efforts, and strengthening country reporting to ensure that they are meeting their goals. 

In addition to the Global Biodiversity Framework, COP15 also produced a series of related decision documents expanding on the GBF’s primary goals and guiding their national implementation.

• Money, Money, Money!

Financing the goals and targets outlined in the GBF was a big sticking point throughout conference negotiations. Over the past decade, the international community accrued an estimated 700 billion dollar per year finance gap, sparking tension between nations who disagree about how to mobilize enough funds. Notably, biodiverse countries from the Global South demanded additional support from wealthy nations. Brazil, the Philippines, and the Republic of Congo were the most outspoken about this issue. 

A solution wasn’t agreed on until the very end of the two-week conference. Eventually, nations agreed to create a global trust fund under the Global Biodiversity Framework that is expected to mobilize 200 billion USD annually. Much of the financial burden rests on wealthy nations, like EU members and the US, which are expected to contribute 25 billion per year by 2025, and 30 billion per year by 2030. The fund is also designed to incentivize additional investment from the private sector. 

• Consensus…Kind Of

COP15 participants sought consensus-based agreement on the final Global Biodiversity Framework. Yet, there were several points throughout the COP15 Biodiversity Conference where nations were uncertain a consensus could ever be reached. These tensions reached a fever pitch on the last day of the conference, when the Chinese COP15 president, Huang Runqiu, appeared to gavel the agreement as accepted, despite concerns raised by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

Since the agreement was reached, other African countries also expressed their frustration with the procedure of COP President Runqiu, prompting behind-the-scenes talks to salvage the deal. Although the DRC eventually dropped its opposition, it brings the strength of the GBF into question. The Democratic Republic of the Congo contains 60% of the Congo rainforest, so their support of the deal is paramount to ensure its success. 

COP15’s new Global Biodiversity Framework takes an important step forward in placing biodiversity protection at the forefront of environmental negotiations. Climate change cannot be addressed fully without equal attention paid to the natural environment. Through the Great Global Clean Up, EARTHDAY.ORG is doing its part to restore degraded landscapes across the globe. With widespread collaboration between governments, businesses, and civil society, achieving the goals set out in this conference are within reach. 
Want to learn more about biodiversity? Take our quiz to test your knowledge!

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Following a global climate strike that turned out 4 million people across the world, world leaders met today at United Nations headquarters in New York City to discuss national contributions to the 2015 U.N. Paris Agreement, the international agreement that aims to limit temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius.

The most powerful moment of the day’s events came from youth climate striker Greta Thunberg, who is widely credited with starting the global youth climate movement of today through her weekly strikes outside of Swedish Parliament since 2018.

Thunberg, no stranger to verbal eviscerations of politicians, delivered her message on the verge of tears, her voice quaking with emotion.

“My message is that we will be watching you,” she said. “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you.”

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly hall of more than 100 heads of state, Thunberg called out politicians for willful ignorance in the face of scientific reports that warn of the urgency of our climate crisis.

“People are suffering, people are dying. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairytales of eternal economic growth… For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away,” she said.

Earlier this year, world leaders were invited today’s summit by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who issued a very specific mandate reiterated in his opening this morning: Don’t bring beautiful speeches. Bring concrete action.

In calling the event to order, Secretary-General Guterres reflected on Friday’s global strikes that turned out millions — mainly students and young people — to demand increased political action for the planet.

“Young people are here insisting on accountability and demanding action,” said Guterres. “They are right. My generation has failed in its responsibility to protect our planet. That must change.”

On Saturday, the U.N. hosted more than 700 young climate leaders from around the world for the Youth Climate Action Summit, which straddled Friday’s global climate strikes and Monday’s head of state-level summit. At the youth summit, Guterres emphasized his commitment to the goals of the youth climate movement to demand the greatest possible commitments from world leaders.

“That is the problem with world leaders — they talk too much, and they listen too little. I believe that what the youth is doing today, what grassroots movements are doing today, is absolutely essential for [change] to happen,” said Guterres on Saturday.

Monday’s summit had been billed as the opportunity for world leaders to deliver that change. Heads of state — including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Marshall Islands Prime Minister Hilde Heine — opened the national commitment portion of the summit with their countries’ plans to increase climate ambition.

Representing one of the most climate-vulnerable populations on Earth, Prime Minister Heine announced her country’s new submission to the Paris Agreement, which increases the island nation’s country-wide ambition to the historic 2015 agreement.

“In the spirit of the Paris Agreement… we have submitted a second and more ambitious commitment,” said Heine. “Other countries must now follow our lead.”

Adopted in December 2015 by 195 countries, the Paris Agreement on climate change made history with both its global support and its timeline for execution. The climate agreement entered into force in less than 11 months, an extremely fast turnaround for U.N. agreements, which often take years to enter into force.

The Paris Agreement target holds the world to less than two degrees Celsius of total global warming, but the numbers initially agreed upon don’t add up: the 2015 and 2016 nationally determined contributions of each country only brings global warming down to about 3.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. To make up the difference, the agreement was adopted with the understanding that nations would increase their national commitments every five years. The first of these collective assessments is in 2020.

Monday’s U.N. Climate Action Summit is a way for Secretary-General Guterres to compel increased national commitments from heads of state before the 2020 deadline. Today’s commitment from the Marshall Islands is a step in this direction, but many more nations must follow, including the world’s largest emitters — China, India and the United States — if the agreement is to be met.

In 2017, the U.S. took a step backward with President Donald Trump’s announcement of the intention to withdraw from the agreement. However, in accordance with the text of the Paris Agreement and its amendments, the earliest possible date that the U.S. can officially withdraw from the agreement is November 4, 2020 — one day before the U.S. presidential elections. If the U.S. withdraws, it will be the only member state in the world not in the climate agreement.

“Hopefully our discussions here will be useful for you when you formulate climate policy,” said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a direct call to President Trump, who briefly stopped by the climate summit Monday.

As Secretary-General Guterres prepared to receive announcements from heads of state at Monday’s summit, he emphasized the urgency of acting on climate change: “I refuse to be an accomplice in the destruction of our own, and only, home… it is my obligation — our obligation — to stop the climate crisis before it stops us.”

Thunberg had even stronger words for leaders, which she delivered in an unflinching tone to a noiseless room of politicians who can rarely be silenced.

“You are failing us,” she said. “But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now, is where we draw the line.”

Image at top: Greta Thunberg speaks to the room of world leaders at Monday’s U.N. Climate Summit. Photo credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

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Ahead of the U.N. Climate Summit, former UN spokesperson gives update on historic climate agreement

In a few days’ time, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host a Summit of Presidents and Prime Minister intent on raising national and international action on the biggest existential threat to humanity: climate change.

The summit is part of the next wave of ambition aimed at getting more nations, and the economies that underpin them, on track to meet the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. The agreement’s aims are straight-forward enough: Countries need to work at home and abroad to limit global temperature rises this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

The agreement’s more ambitious target, and one that has been gaining traction among small islands and increasing numbers of scientists, is to keep a global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees. This offers the best chance for protecting the most vulnerable from extreme weather and rising sea levels while conserving vital nature-based systems like coral reefs.

Overall it means the world needs to deliver what some term a climate-neutral, carbon-neutral or net-zero emission global economy by mid-century via a series of what you might call “ratcheting up” moments along the way.

California roots

The choreography behind this next step up started 12 months ago when the city of San Francisco, California, hosted cities, states, regions, business, investors and civil societies at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS).

Paris happened in part because the levers of the “real economy,” visible as CEOs of large companies and mayors of major cities, wanted it, and governments felt they were supported by business, sub-national governments and the public.

GCAS attempted to send that clear, strong signal of support from San Francisco in 2018 to New York in 2019.

And it did, with thousands of new pledges and plans announced on everything from big rollouts of electric vehicles to commitments to see more than $32 trillion worth of investments flow into low-carbon economy improvements:

• More than 700 leading companies with over $16 trillion of market capitalization have now taken climate commitments ranging from science-based targets in line with the Paris Agreement to pledges of 100-percent renewable energy
• More than 200 states, regions and local authorities have, as part of the Under2Coalition, committed to cut their emissions by 80–95 percent by 2050, including California and Bad Württemberg.

The coalition represents more than 1.3 billion people and $30 trillion in GDP — equivalent to 17 percent of the global population and nearly 40 percent of the global economy.

Next steps

On September 23 this year, the baton is handed to heads of state. They are being asked to bring strengthened climate action plans, known as Nationally-Determined Contributions, which are bigger and better than the ones put down in the runup to Paris.

In a perfect world, some will do just that. Others may signal they are ready to do this at the UN climate conference, scheduled in Chile later this year, or at the UN climate conference, likely to be hosted by the UK in 2020. Other countries may defer until the early- to mid-2020s.

Checkpoints

Movement is certainly happening in advance of this September’s summit. Finland, for example, announced in June that it would be carbon neutral in 2035, enshrining the plan into national law.

Government sources in China say they are confident China will peak its carbon dioxide emissions in 2022, setting the stage for decoupling its carbon pollution from economic growth. This would be eight years before the country’s target under its initial Paris Agreement commitment.

In August Prime Minister Modi of India said his country would largely meet its 2030 targets under its existing plan in around a year and a half, citing India’s big increase in installed solar power as a result of a French-Indian partnership forged in Paris in 2015.

For an ordinary citizen it can be hard to unravel what progress looks like or to understand the importance of these seemingly endless climate summits and conferences, but one needs to see them in the context of time and the long game.

The adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 did not pop out of nowhere, like a magician pulling a white rabbit out of a hat to great applause.

It took over 20 years involving millions of people to build the scientific, economic and social case for climate action. This first started with the establishment of a climate stabilization treaty — the UNFCCC — at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, and then, through the first emission reduction treaty for industrialized nations, the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.

The first attempt at a truly global treaty of all nations taking commitments happened and failed in Copenhagen in 2009, perhaps because insufficient numbers of countries really believed they could seriously combat climate change without stressing their economies.

By Paris, the case for action had become unassailable and the threat of inaction increasingly unconscionable on economic, scientific and moral grounds.

Going forward

Critics may brand these 20 years as wasted, and there is, of course, stark truth in this. But it was not totally lost time. There have been some remarkable achievements that have made stepped-up climate action today even more doable.

Penetration of renewable energy is now doubling every 5.5 years, perhaps even faster. The cost per unit of electricity has tumbled from tens of dollars to just a few cents and today wind is price-competitive with coal and solar is almost there.

Perhaps finally the electrification of transportation is gaining speed as states like California and countries like France and the UK set clear policy shifts.

Today there is also new public mobilization from youth in many countries, increasingly backed by parents and grandparents

But in some areas of the global economy, the change so urgently needed is lagging far behind especially when it comes to emissions from land, forests and agriculture. And that is despite the multiple benefits to biodiversity, water supplies, food production and climate.

Happily ever after?

So, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Climate Summit is a chapter in a long and winding book full of drama, set-backs, steps-forward, shadows and heroism.

New and surprising chapters are being written all the time—the emergence of Greta Thunberg and youth, backed by parents, is a phenomenon that has been remarkable, taking politicians to business leaders and established NGOs by surprise.

But the final chapters have not been written and will not be written for several more years before we know if this journey has a happy ending.

Are we on an irreversible path to a low carbon world? Are we finally transforming our economies after two centuries of development based on fossil fuels as a result of these treaties, summits and civic mobilization? Yes, even when changes in some governments can sometimes appear to conspire against it.

But will we do it fast enough, and at the pace and scale, needed? That’s the burning, open question that no one with their hand on their heart can answer.

Image at top: People celebrate the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Photo credit: UNclimatechange, Flickr

The post What the Paris Agreement means in 2019 appeared first on Earth Day.

Prime Minister Modi talked about how traditional Hindu scriptures such as Gita, Shukracharya Niti, and Anushasan Parv of the Mahabharta highlight the values of forests. He said that “I have repeatedly told my farmer that instead of wasting our land in building fences around our fields, why don’t we start planting timber trees there.” From 2009 to 2013, Forest Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad reported that India has “imported 14.7 million cubic feet of timber from abroad and from other parts of the country.” Today, India has to spend millions to import timber from across the world.

According to Global Export Import Market Intelligence, India has imported timber worth $14,926,485 just during July of 2016. Like Prime Minister Modi said, planting trees in India has not only become a new source of income for India’s citizens, but it can save India from deforestation and timber importation costs. If the Indian people start to plant more saplings, they can be utilized for the construction of homes and furniture in the future. Furthermore, these saplings can be cut and sold to other countries with the permission of the government when they reach maturity.

Before Prime Minister Modi gave his speech, various states had set up different projects and activities to let people plant more trees. For instance, more than eight hundred thousand students, volunteers, and government officials in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh planted over fifty million saplings in twenty-four hours, according to The Huffington Post. Furthermore, the Maharashtra government planted almost 20,000,000 saplings in the entire state, and will pledge to plant another 30,000,000 next year. According to The Telegraph, the Indian government has attributed $6.2 billion for tree-planting in order to increase “forestation in line with agreements made at the Paris climate change summit in 2015.” The Indian government has also passed the CAMPA law, which will allow about 40 thousand crores rupees (almost $6 Billion) will go to Indian states for planting trees.

As you can see, the Indian government has transformed reforestation into a people’s movement. Although tree planting is only a small contribution to India’s greater climate commitments, the biggest contribution of these tree planting projects is that they raise people’s awareness of many bigger Indian issues, such as pollution, deforestation, and land use.

The post India’s PM Modi Wants More Trees appeared first on Earth Day.

With a commitment of some 460 million trees coming from the State of Telangana in India, Earth Day Network can confirm that we have reached the one billion mark on our march to 7.8 billion. EDN had previously collected a massive commitment from the World Boy Scouts to plant over 500 million trees by 2020. That in conjunction with dozens of other smaller pledges put our total to date at just over one billion. And it took slightly less than seven months.

“We knew going into it that reaching 7.8 billion trees by 2020 was going to be a long hard slog. But more importantly we knew it was not impossible,” explained Kathleen Rogers, President of the Earth Day Network. “Nations are now beginning to realize the critical, central roles that trees and soil will play in greenhouse gas reduction. We will reach 7.8 billion trees planted by Earth Day 2020.”

“It was striking that over 60 countries mentioned reforestation in their climate commitments last year in Paris. The tremendous potential and affordability of the land sector is becoming much more widely understood,” said Orion Cruz, Earth Day Network’s Deputy Director of Forest and Climate Policy. “The big question is, can we act cooperatively and quickly enough to reap the benefits of this knowledge by 2020? We believe so.”

Trees for the Earth focuses on those regions of the world most affected by deforestation. In order to achieve our goal of 7.8 billion trees, we will work with partners from all levels of society, integrate trees into all of our existing campaigns, and create coalitions with national and subnational governments, mayors, faith leaders, businesses, and civil society from all across the globe.

Our goals for planting these trees are as simple as they are important:

• Fight climate change and pollution;
• Support communities, their local economies, and their way of life;
• Protect biodiversity; and
• Inspire millions of people to join us in environmental citizenship and stewardship.

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The Conference of Parties (COP) is an international political response to climate change which began in 1992. COP21, also known as the Paris Climate Conference, brought parties together to achieve a universal goal on climate: keeping global warming below 2° C. “This is by far the largest number of countries ever to sign an international agreement on a single day,” stated the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Among the 175 signers were 55 heads of State, including French President François Hollande and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Signing the Paris Agreement is more than just a declaration. Signatures indicate the intention to be bound by the agreement. The remaining twenty countries that have not signed the agreement have a year to do so.

For the Paris Agreement to enter into force at least 55 countries accounting for a total of 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions must ratify the agreement. Sixteen states have already ratified, including Belize, Fiji, Grenada, Marshall Islands, and Maldives. France has plans to present their ratification bill to their National Assembly for approval next week, on May 17^th, but the 55 percent threshold cannot be achieved without the ratification of at least one of the top four emitting parties, China, the United States, the European Union or Russia.

On March 31^st, China and the United States announced together that they would not only sign the agreement on Earth Day but also work to ratify the agreement as early as possible. The United States and Canada together announced their intention to limit their methane emissions. Scotland has recently shut down its last coal plant. Elsewhere, developing countries like India have been rapidly expanding their renewable energy capacity.

Having nearly all parties to the Paris Agreement sign it last Earth Day was a critical move that shows how countries are able to work together to reduce the impact of climate change and achieve a sustainable future for the next generation.

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