In a warming world, reframe the climate challenge

The UN Environment Programme’s latest study, "Limiting Overshoot," reinforces the dire predictions of climate scientists. Released on Wednesday, the report reveals that global temperature rise has surpassed the Paris Climate Pact’s 1.5 degrees Celsius limit, with breaches occurring multiple times in the past five years. These occurrences serve as warning signs that the planet is perilously close to the long-term temperature increase the Paris Pact aimed to prevent.

The report highlights the distress faced by people affected by heat waves in Europe, America, and Australia, the sufferings of flood-hit communities in various parts of Asia, and the recent toll taken by the Nepal flash flood. These events indicate that climate change has entered uncharted territory. The UNEP report urges to "make the overshoot above 1.5 degrees as small and short as possible," emphasizing that every fraction of a degree raises the risk of irreversible tipping points and hinders the resilience of communities near retreating glaciers and rising seas.

The best-case scenario outlined in the report predicts warming peaking at approximately 1.8 degrees, which should be viewed as a warning of the challenges even the most resolute actions may face. Currently, even the most ambitious net-zero targets are insufficient to immediately counteract the carbon already present in the atmosphere.

Removing greenhouse gases would necessitate a combination of traditional methods, such as enhancing carbon-absorbing sinks like forests, and new technologies designed to extract carbon. The pressing question remains: who should bear the costs of climate-induced damage? The Nepal tragedy, for instance, has placed an enormous burden on a country with negligible responsibility for climate change.

The UNFCCC’s Loss and Damage Fund, established in 2022 to address such crises, remains inadequate, with even conservative estimates of Nepal's rebuilding cost far exceeding the fund's resources. Its board has yet to respond to requests from several countries for an emergency meeting. The UNEP report underscores the need for institutions to respond swiftly to calamities in a climate crisis, with a response grounded in the principle of climate justice.