Author: Piers Forster, Professor of Physical Climate Change; Director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate, University of Leeds

The latest scientific assessment by an international team of climate scientists that I lead shows how human activity is warming the world more rapidly than ever before, and we are now perilously close to the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C guardrail. This evidence underscores the need for decisive climate action at the UN’s upcoming climate summit, Cop29, through a collective global effort despite complex and fragile geopolitical circumstances. Decisions made and commitments announced at the summit over the next two weeks in Azerbaijan will shape our future climate. But the science is already clear: we are not on track to avoid the…