Leadership needed

Global civilisation is on a path to self-destruction and we urgently need real leadership from this year’s COP meeting, says Kiwi climate scientist Dr James Renwick. COP28 is under way in Dubai. "We need stronger pledges to reduce emissions," Renwick says, consistent with the IPCC’s goal of limiting planetary heating to 1.5degC — which means emissions need to be cut 43% by 2030. Countries must pick up the pace of decarbonisation, he says, and it would be great to see advances on funding a just transition. "Given recent extreme events and record high temperatures (even a day this month when global temperatures topped 2degC above pre-industrial), the pressure is really on." It would be helpful to see some honest statements about how far off the mark we are globally in terms of the 1.5degC ceiling, that would help inform governments’ work on their new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for 2025, Renwick says.