The Paris Agreement feels like a long time ago. When countries signed the deal in 2015, they set 1.5C as a watermark for the rise from pre-industrial temperatures. If reached, the severest symptoms of global warming would start to kick in — biodiversity loss, more droughts and a rise in sea levels.
Alarmingly, this year a UN report stated we are likely to breach this barrier within the next five years. Brazil’s recent COP30 also proved a frustrating affair. Political manoeuvring superseded global consensus, and with the US setting a precedent — its absence from COP a glaring admission — lowering the temperature still seems a way off. It’s easy to be despondent. And many will ask if there is a way out of this mess.
