The planet has warmed from 56.7 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit, being roughly 2.3 degrees hotter since the industrial revolution. This rapid increase in temperature has led to the last decade being the warmest on record. The wildfires in California, severe heat waves in Asia and floods across Europe are a product of this change. The latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that, at this rate, the world’s temperature is on track to increase by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit in the next few decades. This is a reason for concern because it affects the environment by changing it to be less suitable for life with rising sea levels and desertification. Crops could be threatened and result in food shortages. This growing heat threatens to surpass the threshold set by the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement is an international treaty focused on limiting the increase of average global temperature through collective action.
Efforts to combat greenhouse gasses have intensified with more technology that has the potential to reduce carbon emissions. Renewable energy has been steadily improving over time, as well as carbon capture technology. Wind and solar energy are becoming more advanced, and across the world there are efforts being made to make renewables more accessible to lower fossil fuel use. According to the International Energy Agency, renewable energy is, on average, cheaper than non-renewable energy, and the world is investing in clean energy twice as much as it does in fossil fuels. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology used to capture CO2 at emission sources and transport it to be stored safely underground. This general process has been around since the 1970s. During this time, CCS was used to stimulate oil production by getting CO2 from oil and gas, which worsened climate change instead of how it’s recently been used as a way to work against it.
Aside from technology that will aid the fight against global warming, global policies like the Paris Agreement and international efforts have stepped up. European and African countries are achieving lower carbon emissions in their energy sector unlike places like Asia and North America where the dependency on fossil fuels remains. International cooperation and beneficial actions are necessary when trying to fight a global issue. The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30p) plans to prioritize that method, as stated by United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres “International cooperation – centred on the Paris Agreement – is indispensable to climate action.” Environmental groups are pushing more impactful ideas to reduce emissions with a focus on financial assistance, especially for underdeveloped countries who are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These conferences are expected to be a turning point in preserving the earth and global cooperation.
La Niña and El Niño are a significant cyclic changing of the oceans temperatures in the equatorial pacific. This complex weather pattern directly affects global warming and climate change through rainfall variation and climate differences in the North and South. La Niña cools the oceans surface in contrast to El Niño´s (ENSO) warming of it. We are currently in a La Niña phase that started in January 2025 and is expected to end in April,making it a short and weak La Niña. Noticeably, since the 1960´s, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have played a hand in amplifying the effects of La Niña and El Niño, as stated by Climate.gov.
