TL;DR: Unreported in Aotearoa over a weekend of political promises to soft-pedal on emissions reduction, a UN stocktake on Paris Agreement progress has found a vast gap between the commitments by 200 countries and the track needed to stop a dangerous warming of the climate.
This report came after extreme flooding events in Spain and Greece over the last week, along with confirmation the planet has warmed to record high levels in recent weeks, which appear to be triggering tipping points and feedback loops that scientists fear will speed up warming and ramp up the damage from extreme events.
In contrast, to summarise the political debate in Election 2023 over the weekend:
ACT announced a housing policy likely to stop urban densification and encourage more emissions-intensive greenfields housing development;
National detailed a transport policy that removes incentives to buy electric cars (which has triggered a rush to take advantage of the incentives before October 14) and adds a new tax on driving electric cars; and,
Labour released a nine-point pledge card that made no mention of the climate.
Paying subscribers can hear more detail in the podcast above.
Elsewhere in the news over the weekend:
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