Globally, 2024 is now virtually certain to be the warmest year on record. Yet, the just-completed international climate change conference made only incremental progress on the actions that matter. The change of president in the US is unlikely to improve things, so the value of these international talkfests is once again under the spotlight.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been held annually since the first in Berlin in 1995. The objective was and remains to bring a global effort to addressing the global problem of climate change.