With the Paris Agreement, countries committed to collectively limit global warming to well below 2 °C and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. However, there is currently no commonly agreed effort-sharing mechanism to determine the contribution of each country. The Pledged Warming Map provides an assessment of global warming when all countries follow the ambition of a given one, reconciling the bottom-up architecture of the Paris Agreement with its top-down warming threshold.

With COP24 drawing near and widespread concern over underachieved climate targets that threaten the IPCC's 1.5º threshold, all eyes are turning to China. Its actions as the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter and as a frontrunner in clean energy are highly important for the international community. The added pressure of climate-unfriendly forces emerging in economies such as Brazil, USA and Australia raises questions as to whether China will be able and willing to take up a central role in climate diplomacy. This issue of China Dialogue brings a series of insights on China’s position to help us navigate the country’s approach in the international climate community, from its relationship with coal energy to water privatisation and biodiversity protection.

An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Bank predict that water scarcity, induced by climate change, will potentially reduce GDP of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by 6 to 14% by 2050, if nothing is done to address this. In the report, the agencies highlight water and agriculture as key to conflict recovery, stabilization and peace building in the region currently experiencing armed conflicts and large refugee movements.