COP31 opened in Antalya, Türkiye, on November 9, 2026, with scientists urging governments to face an uncomfortable prospect: warming beyond 1.5°C and the work needed to bring temperatures back below it. The UN climate talks are scheduled to run through November 20. Source Source
According to Nature’s account of the UN Environment Programme’s Limiting Overshoot report, released in October, the world will exceed 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures under all plausible emissions trajectories. Source
A single hot day or year above 1.5°C doesn’t, by itself, mean the Paris Agreement’s warming goal has been breached, as Scientific American notes. Source
A vast clean-up alongside emissions cuts
Returning below 1.5°C this century would require cutting emissions to near-zero levels and removing hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide over the same period, according to Nature’s account of the UN report. Removal could involve technological approaches or nature-based measures such as reforestation. Source
Nature reports concerns that carbon removal could distract from emissions cuts. Source
The ambition runs ahead of the targets: Oxford climate researcher Steve Smith told Nature that no country had included clearly quantified CO2-removal targets in climate commitments submitted to the UN. Source
Comments