In December last year – a little over three years since world leaders unanimously approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and signed up to the Paris Agreement on climate action – the UN’s latest Climate Change Conference (COP24) came to an end. The usual handshake photo call declared the gathering a success, after negotiators from nearly 200 countries agreed the rules to put what was agreed in Paris into action.

Wait a minute! Did I miss something here? Or have we really taken three years to decide how we will prove what we’re doing to cut carbon emissions? And announced it just two years before countries must show they have met their emissions targets, and sign up to new, even tougher goals. 

Sadly, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, despite continued and strengthening warnings about what will happen to our planet – and to us – if we don’t take action on climate change now. Scientists say we have until 2030 to stem global warming, or face dire consequences.