Urgent Climate Report Deadlock: Nations Struggle to Set Timeline for Crucial UN Findings

BANGKOK, Thailand — Countries are still struggling to agree on when the UN will release its next big climate change report. This discussion followed a lengthy meeting in China that US representatives did not attend.

The main question was whether the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would provide its upcoming three-part assessment before a crucial UN “stocktake” on climate actions scheduled for 2028. Wealthy countries and those most affected by climate change wanted the report sooner, believing it would help them use the latest science to guide their decisions.

However, some nations with significant oil production and high emissions, like India and China, opposed this accelerated timeline.

The talks in Hangzhou extended well past their planned end, finishing late Saturday without setting a firm deadline for the report’s release.

Zhe Yao, a global policy advisor at Greenpeace East Asia, expressed deep disappointment with the outcome. He stated that the ongoing deadlock favors those reluctant to act on climate change, emphasizing that nations vulnerable to climate impacts cannot afford to wait for results.

Yao added, “It’s frustrating when disagreements lead to delays in vital decisions.”

The discussions were further complicated by the absence of the US, as President Trump rolled back initiatives from the previous administration aimed at tackling climate change. Experts warned that this lack of participation would hinder progress on a global scale.

“Scientific advancements are crucial for prosperity and equity worldwide,” noted Johan Rockström from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

This meeting came after a record-setting year for temperatures, raising concerns about the speed of global warming. UN officials characterized this as a critical moment, urging participants to achieve significant outcomes.

Inger Andersen, the head of the UN Environment Programme, voiced the need for urgent action, saying, “Time is not on our side.” The UN’s recent stocktake report in 2023 highlighted the slow pace of progress on climate goals, prompting the COP28 climate summit to advocate for a shift away from fossil fuels.

The IPCC has warned that the world could hit the Paris Agreement’s warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as early as the 2030s, with some studies suggesting it might happen even sooner, by the end of this decade.