As leaders underscored at the G-20 summit in New Delhi on September 10, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) summit in New York next week, the world stands at a critical juncture. Risks are being created faster than they are being reduced. The aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with a polycrisis of war, debt, and food insecurity, are putting our collective ability to cope to the test. And all against the backdrop of the climate crisis, driving the extreme weather events that are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity.
Editorial | Stocktaking the calamity: On climate crisis and the U.N. Global Stocktake report
The rise in disasters is a trend, not an aberration. Headlines this year alone have brought a relentless wave of bad news across the world, from severe flooding in China to destructive wildfires in Europe and Hawaii to the hottest month ever on record in July. This is set to become the new normal if more action isn’t taken.
