As the world teeters on the brink of catastrophic climate change, a question hangs in the air like a challenge: can humanity put aside its differences and work together to avoid the worst of the impending disaster? The answer, at least in part, lies in the progress being made on the climate treaty, a decades-long effort to get nations to agree on a unified plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of global warming.
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For decades, the climate treaty has been stuck in limbo, with countries unable to agree on the specifics of emissions reductions, financing, and other critical issues. But in recent years, there have been signs of progress, and 2020 was a particularly significant year for the treaty. The European Union, long a leader on climate action, announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2050, and the UK, Japan, and other countries followed suit. Even the US, under the Biden administration, has re-entered the Paris Agreement, the landmark treaty signed in 2015 aimed at limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius.
One of the key drivers of this progress is the growing recognition among nations that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but an economic and security one as well. Rising temperatures and more frequent natural disasters are already causing billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure, agriculture, and other sectors. And as the world’s most vulnerable countries struggle to adapt to these changes, they are also becoming increasingly vocal about the need for action.
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In 2019, the United Nations launched the Climate Action Summit, which brought together world leaders to discuss the need for urgent, collective action on climate change. The summit saw a number of significant announcements, including a commitment from the African Union to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030. And in 2020, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report that laid out the stark consequences of inaction, warning that the world has just over a decade to limit warming to 1.5°C and avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
So what does this progress mean for the climate treaty? While there is still much work to be done, the signs are promising. The treaty’s negotiating text has been updated to include more ambitious targets for emissions reductions, and there is growing momentum around the idea of a “climate emergency” declaration, which would allow countries to take more drastic action to address the crisis.
Of course, progress is always subject to reversal, and the climate treaty’s history is littered with broken promises and missed deadlines. But the current momentum feels different. It feels like a growing recognition among nations that the time for denial and delay is over, and that the only way forward is through collective action and cooperation.
As the world’s nations gather for the next round of climate treaty negotiations, the question still hangs in the air: can they work together to save the planet? The answer, for now, is uncertain. But one thing is clear: the progress being made on the climate treaty is a glimmer of hope in a very dark time, and it’s a reminder that even the most seemingly intractable problems can be solved when we work together towards a common goal.
