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Mail & Guardian

Inger Andersen

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Emissions are still climbing. In 2024, global greenhouse gas emissions increased by 2.3%, reaching 57.7 gigatons of CO₂ equivalent — a faster rate of growth than in 2023 and more than four times the annual average of the 2010s.
CARBON REDUCTION

Off target: Unep warns that the world is still falling short of the Paris climate goals

A decade after the Paris Agreement united countries behind the goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C, the latest Emissions Gap report from the United Nations…

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
The cooling market in developing economies is expected to grow from around $300 billion to at least $600 billion per year, by 2050 (AFP via Getty Images)
AFRICA COOLING MARKET

Africa faces urgent need for sustainable cooling as temperatures soar

Around 3.5 billion people live in hot climates, but only 15% have access to cooling, mainly through air conditioning

  • Ozayr Patel
3 min read
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen at the opening of Unea-6 in Nairobi, Kenya. (UNEP/K.Worth)
UNEA 6

Political leadership and will is needed to fight climate crisis, says Unep head

Speaking to the Mail & Guardian at a conference on climate change, Inger Andersen says people need to demand their leaders put effective measures in place

  • Umamah Bakharia
2 min read
Photo: Laura Lezza/Getty Images
CHARLES MULLER

Plastic pollution could be slashed by 80% in next 17 years

This can be done by 2040 if there are changes in the market, a United Nations report has found

  • Sheree Bega
9 min read
The harsh reality is that emissions have risen on average 1.5% annually over the last decade (Wahdi Setiawan/Reuters)
CLIMATE CHANGE

Slash emissions now or miss 1.5°C goal, UN warns

The UNEP said that global emissions need to fall by 7.6%, each year, every year until 2030 to limit global temperature rises to 1.5°C

  • Patrick Galey
  • Marlowe Hood
4 min read