Climate change under the spotlight!

The climate crisis is at the forefront of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland this week. In the aftermath of the United Nations Climate Change Conference and with the climate crisis topping the list of the biggest risks for the next decade, governments and business leaders are facing some monumental challenges.

Just last week, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service revealed that 2023 will be the hottest year on record. As deep international divisions grow in an increasingly uncertain world, cooperation against global threats like climate change is unlikely to get any easier.

Climate change is among the biggest risks the world will face in the next decade, according to the WEF's Global Risks report released last week ahead of Davos. While misinformation and disinformation are seen as the biggest immediate risks, half of the most serious threats in the next 10 years are environmental. This includes extreme weather events, critical changes in Earth systems, biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and natural resource scarcity.

Two-thirds of the 1,400 global experts surveyed are concerned about extreme weather events in 2024. The report also argues that cooperation on pressing global issues such as climate change is inadequate. It calls on leaders to rethink actions to address these risks and calls for more research in areas that can help, such as climate modeling or green transition technologies. FOSSIL FUELS AND GOING GREEN After agreements were made at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, including a tripling of renewable energy and a shift away from fossil fuels, the World Economic Forum highlighted the importance of addressing and tackling climate change. A strategy for protecting nature and tackling climate change, as well as more concrete plans to achieve carbon neutrality, could be a particular pathway for governments to pursue, in the spirit of this year's theme, "Rebuilding Trust". The energy transition will be one of six key themes delegates will focus on, after the International Energy Agency last week revealed a rapid increase in the deployment of renewable energy and growing global confidence in environmental innovation.