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The Graphic Truth: Tracking national climate action

September 13, 2020

Carlos Santamaria

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Tracking national climate action: How are countries doing on their Paris Agreement goals?

Under the terms of the 2015 Paris Agreement, signatory countries agreed to make their own commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions. At next year's UN climate change conference in Glasgow, nations will assess progress to date and (possibly) make bolder commitments, given technological progress and the mounting urgency to take climate action. But for now, only a handful of countries are on pace to limit warming to 2°C above preindustrial levels — let alone to meet the 1.5°C target that most scientists believe will help us avoid heaviest climate impact. A small group of intrepid governments aim to achieve "net zero" emissions in coming decades. We look at how certain nations are performing on climate action, and highlight those with plans to reach net zero.

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COVID upended the job market & focused employers on skills

COVID had few silver linings. But perhaps one of them is that it upended the labor market in ways that, for once, favored workers over employers. The switch to virtual meant that recruiters were forced to urgently find people with the right digital skills instead of waiting for those that had gone to the "right" schools. "The talent market became a little dry," Jonathan Rochelle, VP of Product Management, Learning Content & Instructor Experience at Linkedin, says during a Global Stage livestream discussion.

UN Environment Chief: “The truth is we are failing”

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations' Environment Programme, issued a dire warning about climate change in a new interview with GZERO Media. In 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the world as standing “at the edge of an abyss,” and that next steps on climate were urgent and critical. “I think if you ask people on Pacific islands whose lands have been lost, they've already fallen off,” Andersen told GZERO. “Or even if you ask people in California whose houses got burnt in a wildfire, they have fallen off.”

Future-proofing the internet from radicalization & extremist content

How do we respond to crises and keep people safe when the internet is abused by terrorists and violent extremists? How do we think about prevention? How do we future-proof Christchurch Call to Action (a political summit initiated by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern) as the internet changes into a more immersive environment? Paul Ash, PM Ardern’s Special Representative on Cyber and Digital, discussed with GZERO Media in an interview at the United Nations.

Finland “investing in security and stability” with NATO push

Kai Sauer, Finland’s Undersecretary of State for Foreign Security Policy, told GZERO Media that as Finland awaits NATO membership his nation is already contributing to the alliance. “We are a security provider. We are investing in stability and security in our region,” Sauer said. “We are bringing a lot of capabilities to the alliance. So, it's in everybody's interest, also in Turkey's interest, that Finland and Sweden will become members.”

Why is Russia on the UN Security Council?

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has launched a discussion about how the UN Security Council works, and how it is dysfunctional - especially when Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, is the invading country, said Melissa Fleming, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. In an interview with GZERO Media on the sidelines of the 77^th General Assembly, Fleming reflected on the return to in-person diplomacy after years of disruption caused by pandemic. "There is this real feeling that the UN is the only place for global cooperation,” she said. “We cannot solve the world's intractable problems of climate change, of war, of refugees without multilateralism, and multilateralism is the UN. It is nations working together to solve problems.”

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