COP 30 must address the most vulnerable

The UNFCCC’s 30th Conference of Parties (COP 30) that begins in Belem, Brazil, on November 10 will mark a decade since the Paris Climate Pact came into force. A lot has changed since the landmark treaty was adopted, and at the same time, the needle hasn’t moved much on several longstanding climate issues. Renewables have edged out fossil fuels as the biggest source of energy. Yet, there has scarcely been a slowdown in the trajectory of global greenhouse gas emissions. Policies now in place are expected to shave off warming by 2100 by nearly one full degree — from 3.6 degrees Celsius pre-Paris to around 2.7 degrees Celsius. That’s still way short of the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold set in Paris. In the run-up to COP 30, more than 60 countries have submitted revised climate action plans. Ma