According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations reached their highest level in 2024, marking the largest annual increase since measurements began in 1957. The current rate of rise in carbon dioxide levels is three times faster than in the 1960s, mainly due to human activity and the growing number of wildfires, creating a dangerous climate spiral.
Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide — the other two major greenhouse gases — also reached record highs last year. The WMO warns that the heat trapped by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is accelerating climate change and contributing to increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
This trend is placing the Earth on a trajectory of long-term warming, posing a serious threat to the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in global temperature. The WMO emphasises that cutting emissions is urgent not only for the sake of the climate but also for economic security and public well-being.
The UNDP recently warned that around 80% of the world’s poorest people, roughly 900 million people, are directly exposed to climate-related risks resulting from global warming. The agency highlighted the link between poverty and four environmental hazards: extreme heat, drought, flooding and air pollution.
Poor households are particularly vulnerable as they often depend on highly climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and informal labour. When multiple risks overlap or occur repeatedly, the consequences are compounded, exacerbating poverty and instability.
The group of 35 finance ministers has proposed reforms in several areas, including credit ratings, insurance premiums, interest rates and the lending priorities of development banks, in order to increase budgetary resources for climate response.
The ministers stressed that delaying climate action would heighten risks and raise investment costs. They called for climate considerations to be integrated into macroeconomic policies. The report also recommended that carbon markets operate through an alliance to harmonise standards and work towards a unified global carbon price.
Under an agreement reached at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2024, wealthy nations pledged to provide 300 billion USD per year in climate finance from 2035 onwards. However, developing countries argue that this amount is far too low, as UN research shows that developing economies alone require at least four times that figure.
The ministers’ report will form part of the “Baku to Belem Roadmap”, which includes chapters on environmental protection, indigenous rights and joint efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report comes at a time when the US has withdrawn from key climate commitments and the European Union is grappling with numerous concerns, including energy security.
Meanwhile, representatives from more than 70 countries are engaged in ongoing negotiations to finalise the agenda for COP30.
COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago noted that participating nations have made progress towards consensus, but much work remains to be done.
Climate change and the extreme weather it triggers are a shared global concern, not only for the world’s poorest regions, such as the southern Sahara of Africa or heavily affected areas like South Asia, but also for developed nations in Europe and North America, which have suffered unprecedented wildfires and environmental losses. Therefore, all countries must stand together and take decisive, united action to combat climate change — before it is too late.
