An open door to ecocide is the stark conclusion when adding up all the measures that were postponed or not taken at COP30. The gap between what’s needed to halt further global warming and climate disruption, and what countries actually agreed to do, keeps widening. And it grows even further because many of the promises that were made are not being fulfilled — as history keeps showing.
Is a billionaire’s opinion important just because they are a billionaire? A new We Don’t Have Time analysis exposes how the world’s most influential philanthropist quietly shifted his climate agenda, bankrolled a think tank known for promoting climate delay, and released a well-timed message that eclipsed the UN Secretary-General’s most urgent warning yet.
The book, “What has gone wrong with Mitigation?”, which has just been released, is a collection of 24 analyses I’ve written since 2018 on international decision-making and wrangling around climate change.
Despite record growth in renewable electricity, the world risks missing the path to net zero — with significant consequences for the climate, the economy, and energy security.
Instead of winding down coal, oil, and gas as promised, governments around the world are preparing to expand fossil fuel production — a move that scientists warn could blow past global climate goals.
The Trump administration has moved to halt construction on the nearly finished offshore wind farm Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut. At the same time, Google President and CIO Ruth Porat is steering the company toward fossil fuels to power its fast-growing AI operations. For Porat, it’s a déjà vu moment: during the financial crisis, she was at Morgan Stanley, deeply tied to the subprime mortgage bets that nearly sank the global economy. Now, critics warn, she risks repeating history — only this time with energy instead of housing.
Ship traffic in shallow areas, such as ports, can trigger significant methane emissions simply by passing through the water. The researchers in a study, led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, observed twenty times higher methane emissions in the shipping lane compared to nearby undisturbed areas. Despite the fact that methane is a greenhouse gas that is 27 times as powerful as carbon dioxide, these emissions are often overlooked with today’s measurement methods.
Earth Overshoot Day 2025 lands on July 24, the date when humanity will have used up nature’s entire annual budget of ecological resources and services, according to Global Footprint Network, the international sustainability organization that pioneered the Ecological Footprint, and York University, which now produces the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts under the governance of FoDaFo.
Climate TRACE, a coalition backed by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, released the first-ever monthly global greenhouse gas emissions report based on direct, real-time observation using satellites, sensors, and AI. This marks a dramatic shift from traditional, slow, and often self-reported emissions inventories.
Climate is becoming a huge concern for humanity. We are in danger of losing essential living conditions. Thus, since the Kyoto Climate Conference (1997), and certainly since the one in Paris (2015), we have been making binding commitments to each other to start stringently reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, we are not getting that done. Emissions continue to rise, and so does the annual CO2 increase in the atmosphere.