As world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City this week, everyone seemed to agree on one thing: Climate change is among the biggest problems facing the planet.
U.S. President Joe Biden walked through a laundry list of climate calamities in his U.N. speech on Tuesday, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro said climate change "has shown its teeth like never before.” In passionate opening remarks, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres noted that the world has just survived its hottest summer on record.
But in hours of back-to-back speeches, U.N. officials and world leaders also offered a preview of battles to come — over the responsibility rich countries have to reduce emissions, over the financing needed for climate adaptation and over what exactly it means to move away from fossil fuels. When many of the same leaders gather in Dubai for the U.N.’s COP28 climate conference in November, those disconnects are sure to be front and center.
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