Media coverage

COP29 in Baku has concluded but its outcome is disappointing, writes Bill Hare on The Guardian. "Its decisions on finance – agreeing that the developed world would provide US$300bn a year by 2035 – comes nowhere close to what’s needed."

The Paris Agreement requires countries to to set targets and report on progress reducing national levels of greenhouse gases, but it doesn't impose such requirements for emissions generated from fossil fuels they drill, mine and ship elsewhere. That has allowed countries like the United States, Norway, Australia and others to say they are making progress toward international climate goals while also producing and exporting fossil fuels at breakneck pace, Bill Hare told Reuters.

“Colombia is doing the right thing in a way by saying we need to move away from fossil fuels,” said Bill Hare. But the whole ecosystem of the international financial community is not backing Colombia up, he said

“We’re beginning to see some of those negative feedback loops where the climate crisis itself is impacting on the energy system and making it harder to reduce emissions,” Neil Grant told Vox.

"We know that peaking is the start of the journey," says Neil Grant. "But peaking emissions would be a real sign of human agency. If we could say: look, we can turn the corner, that would highlight to me that we do have power and so it would be a hopeful thing for me."

A Trump administration that rolls back the climate policies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and carries out the conservative blueprint Project 2025, would add 0.04°C to warming projections, Sofia Gonzales-Zuniga said. That’s not much, but it could be more if other nations use it as an excuse to do less, she said.

“We are clearly failing to bend the curve,” said Sofia Gonzales-Zuñiga. “As the world edges closer to these dangerous climate thresholds, the need for immediate, stronger action to reverse this trend becomes ever more urgent.”

Gas emissions are projected to increase by 2.4%, which Bill Hare describes as "really frustrating and concerning." "What's happening there is that gas is displacing renewable energy in places where renewables could be taken up," he said.

Electric vehicles, data centres, manufacturing and hot temperatures boosting electricity demand to power air conditioning are all reasons why fossil fuel emissions have continued to rise despite the massive build-out of renewables in 2024, says Neil Grant. “Most people have been caught a bit surprised by the level of electricity demand this year”, he says.

If Trump pulls out of the Paris Agreement and the rest of the world keeps moving forward, "the US is going to lose export opportunities, it's going to lose investment opportunities abroad," Bill Hare told the BBC.