As COP27 continues (it goes on until 18 Nov), there have been some small signs of progress, including on climate disaster funding. However, major sticking points remain, including progress on emissions, which are continuing to increase, and of course cash.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the summit with a warning that our planet is “sending a distress signal”. He called the State of the Global Climate Report 2022 a “chronicle of climate chaos”. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report shows that the past eight years are on track to be the eighth warmest on record, fuelled by ever-rising greenhouse gas concentrations and accumulated heat. Extreme heatwaves, drought and devastating flooding, have affected millions and cost billions this year.

Keep up-to-date with the latest through the UNFCC.

UN warns world on track for temperature rise of 2.4-2.6°C by end of this century

A new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that the international community is still falling far short of the Paris goals, with no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place.

The Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window says that urgent sector and system-wide transformations – in the electricity supply, industry, transport and buildings sectors, and the food and financial systems – would help to avoid climate disaster.

The report is the 13th edition in an annual series that provides an overview of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

The report shows that updated national pledges since COP26 – held in 2021 in Glasgow, UK – make a negligible difference to predicted 2030 emissions and that we are far from the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C, preferably 1.5°C. Policies currently in place point to a 2.8°C temperature rise by the end of the century. Implementation of the current pledges will only reduce this to a 2.4-2.6°C temperature rise by the end of the century, for conditional and unconditional pledges respectively.

The report finds that only an urgent system-wide transformation can deliver the enormous cuts needed to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 2030: 45 per cent compared with projections based on policies currently in place to get on track to 1.5°C and 30 per cent for 2°C. This report provides an in-depth exploration of how to deliver this transformation, looking at the required actions in the electricity supply, industry, transport and buildings sectors, and the food and financial systems.

EEA report – Heatwaves, spread of infectious diseases due to climate change growing health threats to Europeans

Unprecedented heatwaves — as seen this year — are the greatest direct climate-related health threat to Europe’s population. Heatwaves already account for numerous deaths and illnesses. This burden is set to increase without more climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. Heat-health action plans, urban greening, better building design and adjusting working times can contribute to better protect the most vulnerable groups in society, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today (9 Nov)

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