How Climate Diplomacy is a Pillar of Efforts to Address Climate Change.

• Author: Blake, Ambassador Robert

People around the world are experiencing first-hand the growing impacts of climate change--more frequent and destructive hurricanes in Florida and the U.S. Gulf coast; devastating floods in Pakistan; accelerated melting of glaciers in the poles and mountain ranges around the world, to name just a few. The science confirms these trends, but the world is still not doing enough to combat climate change.

In this article, I will describe where we are in global efforts to limit global warming; the important role of the private sector in those efforts; the vital role U.S. and other diplomats are playing to catalyze action; and how we might better institutionalize climate diplomacy at the State Department.

Where Are We on Global Efforts?

Negotiators at the Paris climate accord in 2015 for the first time set a goal of limiting Earth's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels in order to avoid the worst consequences of global warming.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a sobering report on March 20, 2023 assessing that the world is likely to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius target within a decade from now. The panel concluded that there is a "feasible, but narrow pathway" to avoid the worst effects of climate change if the world can agree to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2035, a very tall order.

After the climate negotiations at the Conference of Parties (COP) in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021, 65 percent of the largest economies of the world had committed to climate targets in line with the 1.5? goal. The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that if all commitments made in Glasgow were implemented (admittedly a big "if"), our collective action could limit warming to 1.8 degrees Celsius. After additional commitments at COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh last year, the IEA revised its estimate to 1.7 degrees C. A narrow window remains to make progress, but the world faces many challenges in achieving these reductions.

One is that fossil fuel emissions actually increased by an estimated 1% from 2021 to 2022, according to the Global Carbon Project. Indeed, climate activists were dismayed that the final COP27 text contained no clear commitment to phase out all fossil fuels.

Another major challenge is implementation. Countries must implement the pledges they make. But a UN report issued before COP 27 noted that only 26 of 193 nations that agreed to climate action plans have actually followed through on their commitments, a dismal record indeed.

All of that said, there are reasons for optimism:

Here in the U.S., we passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 that marks a historic step toward meeting our goal of reducing emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Likewise, the European Union has a plan to cut emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, and to reach net zero by 2050.

Late last year, elections in Brazil and...