Global economies remain largely reliant on fossil fuels despite progress made since the 2015 Paris Agreement, UN Environment Program Executive Director Inger Andersen says, warning that current efforts and commitments will not address the world's emissions crisis. "We are seeing a degree of stretch in some of the (nationally determined contributions) -- but this stretch is not enough. The question is, do we just all give up and walk home? No. This is a time when we lean in."

The Responsibility to Protect principle, endorsed by all UN member states two decades ago, sets a clear standard on states' duties to safeguard populations from atrocity crimes, but its implementation is undermined by vetoes at the UN Security Council, a lack of political will and persistent gaps between commitment and action, Mo Bleeker, the Secretary-General's advisor on R2P, warns. The global community has failed to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in conflict zones like Gaza, Myanmar and Sudan, Bleeker says, adding that the existing culture of reacting only after violence erupts is inadequate.

A one-degree Celsius increase in average temperature would likely push another 70 million people across 45 countries into food insecurity, World Food Program analysis reveals. The agency underscores that gradual warming -- not just extreme weather events -- incrementally worsens food security as rising temperatures affect various factors that drive hunger. Reports released this week by the Climate Action Tracker and the Global Carbon Project indicate that the world is on track for a global temperature increase of 2.6C by 2100.

A contentious debate over how to define "gender" is overshadowing discussions at COP30, where conservative states -- including Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Paraguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia -- argue that gender must be equated with "biological sex," a stance that would exclude transgender and nonbinary people from gender climate action plans and reverse progress on inclusive UN language. Representat