‘Out of time’: Temperature records topple around the world
Despite record heat, critics warn of a ‘worrying lack of momentum’ during climate talks with little progress made on key issues such as fossil fuels and finance
...As climate envoys from the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters prepare to meet next month, temperatures broke June records in the Chinese capital Beijing, and extreme heatwaves have hit the United States.
Parts of North America were some 10C (18F) above the seasonal average this month, and smoke from forest fires blanketed Canada and the US East Coast in a hazardous haze, with carbon emissions estimated at a record 160 million tonnes.
In India, one of the most climate-vulnerable regions, deaths spiked as a result of sustained high temperatures, and extreme heat has been recorded in Spain, Iran and Vietnam, raising fears that last year’s deadly summer could become routine.
Countries agreed in Paris in 2015 to try to keep long-term average temperature rises within 1.5C, but there is now a 66 percent likelihood the annual mean will cross the 1.5C threshold for at least one whole year between now and 2027, the World Meteorological Organization predicted in May.
‘Sign of things to come’
High land temperatures have been matched by those on the sea with warming intensified by an El Nino event and other factors. . .
The road to Dubai
Climate experts have said that the extent and frequency of extreme weather has been increasing, and this year has also seen punishing droughts across the world, as well as a rare and deadly cyclone in Africa.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature, however, warned of a “worrying lack of momentum” during climate talks in Bonn this month, with little progress made on key issues such as fossil fuels and finance before November’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai.
“It was very detached from what was going on outside of the building in Bonn – I was very disappointed by that,” said Li Shuo, Greenpeace’s senior climate adviser in Beijing.
“We are really getting to the moment of truth … I am hoping that the sheer reality will help us change people’s moves and change the politics.”
Talks between the US and China could resume next week with US climate envoy John Kerry set to visit Beijing, though few expect it to add momentum to climate negotiations.
“This is more a trust-building exercise,” Li said. “I don’t think either side will be able to push the other side to say much more than they are willing to do – the politics won’t allow that.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/30/out-of-time-temperature-records-topple-around-the-world
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