UN Climate Report
Nations have failed to resolve a deadlock over the timing of the United Nations’ next major climate change assessment following an extended meeting in China.
The discussions, held in Hangzhou, ran over by more than a day but ultimately concluded late Saturday night without a definitive agreement on when the next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would be delivered. The absence of US envoys further complicated negotiations, raising concerns about the country’s commitment to global climate efforts under President Donald Trump.
The primary contention revolved around whether the IPCC, the UN body responsible for informing policymakers on climate science, should complete its next three-part assessment before the 2028 global “stocktake” of progress on climate action.
Many wealthier nations, along with climate-vulnerable developing countries, strongly advocated for an accelerated timeline, arguing that access to the latest scientific findings would help shape more effective climate policies.
However, this proposal was met with resistance from certain oil-producing countries and major polluters like China and India, which expressed concerns over the feasibility and implications of expediting the report’s release.
The impasse resulted in a compromise that allows work on the assessment to proceed but without setting a firm deadline for completion. This outcome was met with frustration from climate advocates and experts, who warned that further delays would hinder efforts to mitigate the worsening climate crisis.
Zhe Yao, a global policy adviser at Greenpeace East Asia, expressed deep disappointment, stating that the deadlock only serves to benefit those who wish to stall climate action. Yao emphasized that vulnerable nations facing immediate climate threats cannot afford further delays in accessing crucial scientific information.
The meeting was further overshadowed by the US decision to refrain from participating, marking a significant shift in engagement compared to previous administrations.
President Trump’s approach to climate policy, which has included rolling back environmental regulations and withdrawing from international agreements, has raised alarms among climate experts.
Johan Rockstrom, a leading climate scientist from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, warned that the US absence from the world’s foremost scientific body on climate change could have serious repercussions. He stressed that international collaboration in climate science is crucial for global prosperity, equity, and resilience.
The urgency of the issue was underscored by the meeting’s timing, which came in the wake of the hottest year on record and growing concerns over the accelerating pace of global warming.
UN Environment Programme chief Inger Andersen highlighted the gravity of the situation, warning that “time is not on our side” and calling for ambitious decisions to emerge from the talks. However, the lack of a decisive resolution cast doubts on whether the necessary momentum could be sustained.
The most recent UN stocktake, published in 2023, presented a grim picture of slow progress in addressing climate change. In response, the COP28 climate summit took a historic step by calling for a transition away from fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, the IPCC has repeatedly warned that the world is on track to exceed the Paris Agreement’s long-term warming target of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels within the early 2030s. Some recent studies even suggest that this critical threshold could be crossed before the decade ends, making immediate and decisive climate action more crucial than ever.
Despite the setbacks in Hangzhou, climate experts stress that the need for updated, scientifically backed strategies remains urgent.
The failure to establish a clear timeline for the next IPCC assessment has left many questioning whether global leaders are truly prepared to take the bold steps necessary to combat climate change. Without swift action, the world risks falling even further behind in the fight to limit global temperature rise and mitigate the devastating consequences of the climate crisis.
