The Earth Faces a Climate Reckoning. So Does the Plan to Save It.
< < Go Back
President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement on climate change isn’t the only obstacle facing the global effort to stem temperature rise.
From unchecked deforestation to difficulty financing clean-energy projects in the developing world, the global effort to achieve the targets in the Paris Agreement appears to be falling short even as the issue remains a top priority outside the U.S. The reason for the gap is simple: weaning the world off the fossil fuels that have driven centuries of growth is proving harder than anticipated.
Climate scientists, policy-makers and diplomats hope to come up with a road map to address that challenge when they gather in Katowice, Poland, next December for the annual U.N. climate conference. The gathering, officially billed as a stock–taking exercise, is an opportunity for diplomats to assess whether countries are doing enough to stop the planet from warming to dangerous levels.
More From TIME Magazine: