An Uphill Battle

It was a complicated year for climate action, with glimmers of hope amid halting progress

- JUSTIN WORLAND

BY EARLY NOVEMBER, IT WAS VIRTUALLY certain that 2024 would be the hottest year on record. The evidence was being felt around the world—from flooding that killed hundreds in Spain to drought in 48 of America’s 50 states. Insurance giants dropped coverage in danger zones and warned about the growing challenge posed by climate change. Amid all that, a casual observer might have expected negotiators gathered at U.N. climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, to double down on the most critical efforts to cut global emissions and prevent the problem from getting worse.

Instead, the talks, known this year as COP29, devolved into a chaotic conflict across decades-old battle lines. The deal that emerged—an agreement for developed countries to lead in providing $300 billion annually in climate finance to Global South nations—was enough to keep hope alive but far from sufficient to tackle the scale of the problem. Chandni Raina, a negotiator for at-risk India, summed up the prevailing sentiment after the finance agreement was gaveled in: “We are extremely hurt.”

The talks were a fitting end to a complicated year of climate action. As the problem grows worse, leaders constrained by political considerations keep eking out piecemeal solutions. The solutions could be worse, but they could also be a lot better. In 2024, few politicians are denying the urgent science of climate change. Yet most are struggling to act on the scale necessary to help the world avoid the worst effects of warming.

But that doesn’t mean all is lost. This year brought some glimmers of progress. The economics of clean energy have improved. Policies enacted years ago are paying dividends. And innovators—technological, financial, and policy—continue to forge ahead. In time, those developments will make a more sustainable future inevitable. The question is what the path looks like to get there.