Davos 2024: Climate change in the limelight as leaders converge for annual meeting
The Earth is heating up. Earlier this month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced the planet had its hottest year ever recorded in 2023, confirming something that scientists across the globe had been expecting and dreading.
But several experts had seen the milestone coming after a year that noted a good share of extremes. Beginning in June, Earth recorded unprecedented hotter-than-usual conditions, and July and August came in as the hottest two months ever recorded.
List of global priorities at Davos summit 2024
In addition to the climate crisis, the Israel-Gaza conflict in the Middle East has been raising for 100 days and the brutal Ukraine war is nearing its second anniversary. Moreover, technological advancements fuelled by artificial intelligence could upend all our lives.
It appears the to-do list of global priorities has grown for this year’s edition of the Davos summit in Switzerland, from January 15 – 19. Over 60 heads of state and government are heading to town to hold public appearances and closed-door talks. They’ll be among over 2,800 attendees.
Of all the topics in the limelight at the annual meeting, the perennial one of late has been the search for creative and promising methods to fight climate change. This year is no different as top climate scientists from around the globe are looking for urgent solutions.
John Kerry, the US special envoy on climate, is stepping down from the Biden administration. He takes part in a panel discussion on a US-backed initiative that seeks to draw the private sector into development of low-carbon technologies.
Chief Executive of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Arunabha Ghosh, is expected to lead a panel on Wednesday that includes Kerry. He pointed to the need for investment to flow to the Global South, “where the action is” in fighting climate change.
Read More: If healthcare is a country, it could be the fifth largest polluter on Earth
New report highlights biggest global risks
The Davos summit 2024 has come against a backdrop of raging conflicts, polarised politics, a concerning cost-of-living crisis and ever-increasing impacts of climate change. Scores of people anticipate a stormy and unpredictable future in the next few years.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024 considers misinformation and disinformation as the most severe short-term threat. But in the longer-term or a 10-year context, climate-related threats contribute five of the top 10 global risks on the Forum’s list.
