As 2024 turns to 2025, we asked subscribers to our newsletter what the top climate issues of the upcoming year will be. With climate destruction growing, their responses clearly indicate they want to see more ambition in tackling climate change and more honesty on how climate action is going.Here’s our summary of responses from our always passionate, well-informed readers and our analysis of when, where and how we can judge whether the powers-that-be are stepping up to the challenge or falling short.
1. Governments must make bigger commitments to cut emissions – and stick to them
Under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, all governments have to submit a climate plan – known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations every five years.
The third round of these plans is due next year, ten years on from Paris. Most will add a 2035 emissions reduction aim on to their existing 2030 target and their more long-term goals to reach net zero in 2050, 2060 or 2070.
Several Climate Home readers said NDCs would be a top climate issue for 2025. One said they should be “challenging but realistic” and another said they “must align with actionable policies”.
They will certainly have to be more ambitious than the last round five years ago if the world stands a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C or even 2C above pre-industrial levels.
The United Nations said in October that, even if implemented in full, existing NDCs put the world on course for a catastrophic 2.6C of global warming.
2. Governments must prepare for worsening climate change impacts
While the final figures are not out yet, the World Meteorological Organisation has said that 2024 looks set to be the hottest year on record. But it may also be the coolest year we see for a while. Even if emissions peak, the world will keep getting hotter until we reach net zero globally.
Climate change worsened dozens of disasters in 2024 from extreme rain in Spain to a heatwave in West Africa and typhoons in the Phillipines. The World Weather Attribution group found that 26 disasters linked to climate change this year killed over 3,700 people and displaced millions.
We’re likely to see more disasters in 2025. One South American reader reported worries about drought, Amazon rainforest fires and rising temperatures while another said “extreme weather patterns demand immediate attention”.
In this context, adaptating to climate change is key. At COP30 in Belém in November, governments are due to agree on a list of indicators on how to measure whether they are adapting to climate change in areas like water, food and health. The big debate will be whether the provision of finance to developing countries will be one of those indicators.
For the destruction that can’t be adapted to, the new UN loss and damage fund is supposed to help. Its new executive director – Ibrahima Cheikh Diong – hopes to start handing out money to climate victims by the end of 2025 and hire most
Gio. Gen 9th, 2025
