COP29 must move from stalling to action
Real progress is needed on fossil fuels and supporting vulnerable countries In November, the 2024 United Nations climate change conference (COP29), will take place in Azerbaijan, a country where fossil fuels account for two thirds of its economy.1 Attendees will gather after a northern hemisphere summer that was the hottest ever recorded, with predictions that 2024 temperatures will reach 1.57°C above pre-industrial levels.2 The 2016 Paris Agreement3 committed countries to keep “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” However, a recent survey of authors of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that most are sceptical that warming will be kept well below 2°C.4 The past year has seen the health and livelihoods of millions of people around the world severely affected by extreme weather. Heatwaves across South and Southeast Asia resulted in sch