This year’s United Nations climate change conference, or COP31, marks a critical juncture in the global effort to translate diplomatic pledges into tangible climate action.

The following areas have been flagged as urgent priorities:

• The Clean Energy Transition & Electrification – Transitioning away from fossil fuels, scaling up renewable energy resources, and building resilient energy grids. One target is to raise the share of global energy demand met by electricity from roughly 20% to 35% by 2035.
• Climate Finance: Kurum has highlighted a massive global adaptation finance gap of $5.6-7.1 trillion. This is the total cumulative cost developing countries need to implement their NDCs by 2030. Nearly four years after the initial agreement of the Loss & Damage Fund at COP17, the fund has failed to materialise for frontline communities.
• Climate-Resilient Cities – Minimising cities’ exposure to climate risks such as heatwaves through resilient infrastructure, sustainable housing, and low-carbon urban systems. One target is to slash energy intensity in the global building sector by at least 25% by 2035.
• Oceans & Seas – Strengthening marine and coastal resilience. COP31 will work toward an official Antalya Ocean Declaration to advance ocean-based climate solutions, support adaptation for climate-vulnerable coastal and island states, and address how oceans absorb massive amounts of human-generated carbon dioxide and excess heat.
• Food Security – Create dedicated roadmaps and collaborations linking sustainable agricultural systems, water availability, and rural livelihoods. Provide climate-resilient agricultural practice training to all young farmers globally by 2035.
• Zero Waste & Methane Reduction – Relieving pressure on natural resources, ecosystems, and the climate by cutting waste and reducing dependence on linear production and consumption models. One target is to reduce the increase in waste generation by 50% by 2035.
• Green Industrialisation – Boost the use of circular materials in manufacturing and production to at least 15% by 2035.
• Cross-Convention Cooperation – This is the year of the triple COP, which brings together the three UN Rio Conventions for their Conferences of the Parties to tackle the interconnected crises in climate (UNFCCC COP31), biodiversity (CBD COP17), and land (UNCCD COP17). The plan is to integrate circular economies, sustainable agriculture, food security, biodiversity, and green industrial transformations into international policy.

You may have noticed the world becoming more eco-friendly in recent years — or at least, so it would appear. But if you’ve ever picked up a product because the packaging had the word “natural” on it or looked recycled, you may have been a victim of greenwashing.

Note: This story will be updated if additional responses are received.

Juan Atkins, the Detroit producer and DJ who, along with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson, brought techno to the world, died yesterday in Mexico City. He’d been found unresponsive in his hotel room prior to a gig and was taken to the hospital, where he passed away at the age of 64.

“Rich countries spend over 10 times as much money on chewing gum each year as they spend on advancing 30×30 in developing countries,” Brian O’Donnell, director of Campaign for Nature, said in a statement accompanying the report.

The report

Residents often actively build their own informal information networks to help keep each other safe.

For private equity firms, "not all transition strategies are sustainable."

Little is known about the long-term effects of deep-sea mining on the organic matter that supports life on the seafloor. However, as interest in mining the deep sea for rare metals grows, there is concern that disturbing the seabed could affect the ecosystems of the deep ocean.

The research: Long-term impacts of deep-sea mining on sediment organic matter quantity and quality

Carbon Brief has analysed around 100 documents at COP31 and captured them in an interactive table

UN-backed report finds even temporary rises above Paris agreement target could cause harm to glaciers and polar ice sheets

The report, written by 80 scientists brought together by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), found much of the damage would be permanent even if global temperatures were brought back down to 1.5C, such as glacier melt raising sea levels and threatening water security.

Indigenous leaders challenging Brazilian oil projects traveled to Ecuador to learn how the Sarayaku people fought back and helped reshape laws around the globe.

The report by Oil Change International concludes that existing oil, gas, and coal fields and mines will emit a combined 897 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, at a time when the remaining carbon budget for a 1.5°C future has dwindled to 130 billion tonnes.