Are you aware of the devastating effects of climate change?
It’s causing extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and wildfires, that threaten lives and homes.
Droughts and floods are becoming more frequent, disrupting ecosystems and agriculture.
Heatwaves and high temperatures are becoming the new norm, putting human health at risk.
Species are going extinct, and biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate.
Furthermore, food and water scarcity are becoming increasingly common.
Climate change is affecting you, and it’s time to take action.
Key Takeaways
- Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods cause destruction, displacing communities and costing billions of dollars in rebuilding efforts.
- Droughts and floods lead to failed crops, food shortages, and economic instability, while also disrupting ecosystems and causing water scarcity.
- Heatwaves pose serious risks to human health, exacerbate air pollution, and cause damage to ecosystems, including crops and wildlife habitats.
- Climate change threatens biodiversity and species extinction, disrupting delicate balances in ecosystems and impacting food security, water availability, and overall stability.
Extreme Weather Events
Extreme weather events can wreak havoc on communities and infrastructure. When hurricanes strike, homes are destroyed, leaving families homeless and vulnerable. The strong winds and heavy rainfall can cause widespread flooding, making roads impassable and cutting off access to essential services. Power outages are common, leaving people without electricity for days or even weeks.
Tornadoes can tear through neighborhoods, demolishing buildings and uprooting trees. The destruction caused by these extreme weather events not only disrupts daily life but also poses significant risks to public safety. Emergency services are stretched thin, struggling to respond to the overwhelming demand for help. Rebuilding after such disasters can take years and cost billions of dollars.
It’s crucial to take action against climate change to mitigate the frequency and intensity of these devastating events.
Droughts and Floods
Are you aware of the devastating impacts that droughts and floods, caused by climate change, have on communities and ecosystems?
These extreme weather events are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, wreaking havoc on both human lives and natural habitats.
Droughts, characterized by prolonged periods of little to no rainfall, have dire consequences for agriculture, leading to failed crops, food shortages, and economic instability. They also exacerbate water scarcity, leaving communities without access to clean drinking water.
On the other hand, floods, caused by heavy rainfall or melting ice, result in widespread destruction, displacing millions of people, damaging infrastructure, and contaminating water sources.
Both droughts and floods disrupt ecosystems, leading to the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of fragile habitats.
It’s imperative that we take action to mitigate climate change and protect our communities and ecosystems from these devastating impacts.
Heatwaves and High Temperatures
As temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, you’ll experience increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves, posing serious risks to both human health and ecosystems.
Heatwaves, defined as prolonged periods of excessively hot weather, can have devastating consequences. The scorching temperatures can lead to heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion and heatstroke, especially among vulnerable populations like the elderly and young children. High temperatures can also exacerbate air pollution and worsen respiratory conditions, such as asthma.
Furthermore, heatwaves can cause significant damage to ecosystems, including the destruction of crops, forests, and wildlife habitats.
The increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves due to climate change require immediate action to mitigate their harmful effects and protect both human and environmental health.
Species Extinction and Biodiversity Loss
To fully grasp the devastating effects of climate change, you must understand the alarming rate at which species extinction and biodiversity loss are occurring.
Climate change has become a major threat to the world’s biodiversity. Rising temperatures, habitat destruction, and changes in rainfall patterns are causing species to struggle to adapt and survive.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warns that approximately one million species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades if we don’t take immediate action.
This loss of biodiversity not only affects the natural world but also has far-reaching consequences for human society. Ecosystems rely on a diverse range of species to function properly, and the loss of these species can disrupt delicate balances, leading to cascading effects on food security, water availability, and overall ecosystem stability.
It’s crucial that we prioritize conservation efforts and work towards mitigating climate change to protect the incredible diversity of life on Earth.
Food and Water Scarcity
The devastating effects of climate change extend beyond species extinction and biodiversity loss to include the alarming issue of food and water scarcity.
As the planet warms, changing rainfall patterns and increased evaporation rates have a significant impact on agricultural productivity and water availability. Crop yields are declining due to extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves, leading to food shortages and price hikes.
Additionally, rising temperatures affect water sources, causing rivers, lakes, and groundwater reserves to dry up. This scarcity of water not only affects agriculture but also poses a threat to human health and sanitation.
Without access to clean water and sufficient food, communities are left vulnerable to malnutrition, disease, and even conflict as competition for resources intensifies.
Urgent action is needed to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure a sustainable future for food and water security.
Conclusion
You have witnessed the devastating effects of climate change firsthand. Extreme weather events have become more frequent and destructive, while droughts and floods have left communities struggling for survival.
Heatwaves and high temperatures have become the new normal, endangering lives and ecosystems. Species extinction and biodiversity loss have reached alarming levels, disrupting delicate ecosystems.
The impact of climate change is felt in every aspect of our lives, causing food and water scarcity.
It’s time to take urgent action to mitigate these devastating effects before it’s too late.
This is a republication of November’s edition of The Climate Agenda – a subscriber-only newsletter designed to keep you informed of the key events, negotiations and announcements happening every month. If you want to receive The Climate Agenda straight to your inbox at the start of each month, sign up as a subscriber today.
COP31 begins in one week, and we’ll have five specialist reporters on the ground in Antalya, Türkiye, bringing you every development as it happens. From the negotiations to leaders’ speeches and side events, we’ll be there to dissect what it all means for international climate policy on electrification, just transition, adaptation finance and much more.
Here’s what you need to know for November, why it matters and what to expect.
US midterm elections
Tuesday 3 November – United States
The geopolitical highlight for the first week of November is the US midterm elections, which will show whether American voters are in any mood to forgive President Donald Trump for failing to bring down the cost of living. From an energy perspective, his pro-oil and gas stance hasn’t led to cheaper prices for consumers, pushed up by the US-instigated Iran conflict. And his diesel deal with Russia won’t yet have made a difference at the pump.
The key issue for climate and energy policy is whether the Republicans hold onto their governing trifecta. If so, then expect continued dismantling of regulations that protect the environment, as well as strong backing for fossil fuel production. If the Democrats regain control of Congress, which polls suggest is possible, it could trigger a push to restore Biden-era clean energy tax credits, and support states wanting to restart mothballed wind and solar projects.
Data centres have been a hot-wire issue, with growing community opposition to their expansion – partly due to concerns over rising utility bills as the facilities gobble power. Whether Republicans or Democrats win Congress, both are likely to make tech firms pay for the extra electricity production they need, with the latter favouring renewable sources.
Governor races are also taking place in key states for climate issues, including Democrat-run California, which has used the courts to fight Trump’s attacks on clean energy.
Read more: National climate plans now promise half the emission cuts expected by UN
Read more: The more Europe relies on the US for energy, the more it’s vulnerable to pressure by Trump
COP30 Deforestation and Fossil Fuel Transition Roadmaps
Tuesday 3 November – Brazil
Brazil is set to unveil two global roadmaps: one for transitioning away from fossil fuels, the other for ending deforestation.
The COP30 presidency promised them in the dying hours of the Belém summit last November as a last-minute fix to break a political impasse. Since then, it has been consulting with countries, experts and campaigners around the world to gather ideas and sketch out the elements to include in these blueprints.
Don’t expect the roadmaps to offer any new global targets or give direct instructions on what countries must do, either to cut fossil fuel production and consumption or better protect forests. Rather, Brazil has said the documents will identify barriers and priority actions, highlight existing mechanisms and present a range of options that can be adapted to different national contexts.
It remains unclear what will happen with the reports once they are delivered on Tuesday. At the Bonn talks last June, a group of European and small island nations called for the roadmaps to be brought into the official negotiations, warning that a one-off report won’t cut it. But such efforts would undoubtedly face stiff opposition from fossil fuel-producing nations that objected to drafting the energy transition roadmap within the formal UN process last year.
Read more: European, island states seek clear future for global roadmap to cut fossil fuels
Read more: COP30 roadmap to end deforestation will invite countries to draft domestic plans
Read more: What we need to see in the roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels
UNEP Adaptation Gap Report
Wednesday 4 November – Nairobi, Kenya
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will publish its annual assessment of how well the world is planning, implementing and – crucially – financing measures to cope with worsening climate impacts.
Past editions have made for grim reading. Last year’s report warned of a widening gap between what developing countries need for adaptation and what they can access. It estimated they will need $310–365 billion a year by 2035, which is 12 to 14 times current international flows. The report also found that a goal of doubling international public adaptation finance by 2025 was likely to have been missed.
This year’s edition will be closely watched with adaptation expected to be a big-ticket item at COP31. Governments are likely to discuss the specifics of a commitment to triple adaptation finance for developing nations by 2035, agreed at COP30 last year – particularly what the baseline for that pledge is. Negotiators will be debating how to track progress against the 59 indicators of the Global Goal on Adaptation.
Read more: Editor’s Desk: Nepal’s disaster has laid bare the world’s adaptation accountability gap
Read more: Bonn climate talks end in “gridlock” on adaptation and emissions-cutting
Read more: New data shows rich nations likely missed 2025 goal to double adaptation finance
COP31 Climate Conference
Monday 9 November – Friday 20 November – Antalya, Türkiye
The climate community’s attention turns this month to Antalya for the annual UN climate summit. From the outset, COP31 will have an unprecedented, and potentially explosive, set-up: Türkiye is COP president overseeing the non-negotiated Action Agenda, while Australia runs the negotiations.
Billed, once again, as an “implementation COP”, the talks come amid a global energy crisis largely sparked by the actions of the US government, which is not expected to show up on the Turkish Riviera. It is also the first COP in the era of climate overshoot, coming just weeks after the UN officially confirmed the 1.5C warming limit will be breached and set out a narrow pathway to bring temperatures back down to the most ambitious Paris goal.
Unlike most recent COPs, the formal negotiations lack a clear headline item. Countries are due to establish and define the scope of the Just Transition Mechanism agreed in Belém last year, including its rules, governance and possible funding arrangements. On adaptation, vulnerable countries want a clearer path to delivering last year’s pledge to triple finance by 2035 and to putting the new progress indicators to work on the ground.
Governments are also likely to clash over next steps on the transition away from fossil fuels, and especially over whether the mitigation work programme – the forum dedicated to emission-cutting measures – has any future beyond this year.
Notable events to look out for in Antalya:
Opening session (9 November): The summit kicks off with the customary first-morning plenary. After the usual pageantry from the host nation, negotiating blocs and individual countries will deliver statements setting out their stall for the next two weeks. Watch out for a potential fight over the summit’s agenda – perhaps on issues relating to finance and trade following submissions requesting additional items – also a COP tradition.
Electrification (10 November): On Energy Day, the Turkish presidency is expected to formally launch its flagship electrification pledge, revealing which countries have signed up. Signatories will voluntarily commit to raising electricity’s share of global final energy consumption to 35% by 2035, though the current text does not require that power to come from clean sources. There is also a question mark over whether and how this can be included in the political cover decision the COP co-hosts have said they will aim to produce.
Leaders Summit (11-12 November): Heads of state and governments will jet into town for the traditional high-level segment in the middle of the first week, where world leaders typically talk up their climate record, air their grievances and call for more action.
Relatively few powerful leaders are on the list this time. Brazil’s Lula is set for another star turn this year, fresh from his surprise election win in October. The UK’s Andy Burnham, Spain’s Pedro Sanchez and China’s vice-premier Ding Xuexiang are expected, alongside Türkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Australia’s Anthony Albanese. In addition, African and small island nations will feature prominently.
Our COP31 Briefing newsletter will offer a more in-depth preview of the talks later this week.
Read more: Early speakers’ list suggests few powerful leaders will attend COP31
Read more: COP31 electrification pledge leaves out clean power commitment
Read more: From Belém to Antalya – gains, gaps and challenges for a new Just Transition Mechanism
International Maritime Organization (IMO) Shipping Talks
Monday 23 November – Friday 4 December – London, United Kingdom
One year on from explosive talks in which Trump’s officials teamed up with Saudi Arabia to delay a deal to make the shipping industry greener, governments will gather on the banks of the Thames for another attempt to reach agreement.
The Net Zero Framework, provisionally agreed in October 2025, includes a series of emissions reduction targets for the owners of large ships along with penalties for not meeting them, rewards for doing so and measures to make the maritime transition fair.
The framework is likely to be either tweaked or radically rewritten so that it’s more acceptable to the US and Saudis. Brazil and Japan have submitted compromise proposals. Analysts find those will move shipping further away from being able to meet its climate goals.
There will be closed-door talks between November 23-27 and a second week of talks open to accredited media from November 30 to December 4. Agreement on a proposal, perhaps decided through a vote, is expected after long and technical negotiations. The shipping industry’s 3% share of the world’s emissions is at stake.
Read more: London talks raise hopes for green shipping deal
The post What’s on the climate calendar for November 2026? appeared first on Climate Home News.
Delegates will soon gather in the Turkish resort city of Antalya for UN climate negotiations, against a backdrop of war, energy crisis and climate extremes.
At COP31, nations will try to find agreement on various issues, including climate finance for developing countries and a global “just transition” towards a cleaner economy.
This summit is unusual due to its joint presidency, which means that Australia is leading the negotiations while Turkey hosts the conference.
Outside the formal negotiations, Turkey is also pushing its own priorities as part of a wider “action agenda”, including electrification, oceans and “green industrialisation”.
In order to track parties’ positions on key negotiating points and wider issues at COP31, Carbon Brief has analysed around 100 documents and captured them in the interactive table below.
The first column shows the countries and UN negotiating blocs, the second shows the topics up for debate and the third indicates specific issues within those topics.
The final column indicates the positions that the parties have expressed on each topic. These range from “priority” – meaning the party is likely to be pushing the issue – to “oppose”, meaning it is likely to push against it.
This is a “living document” that will be updated over the course of COP31.
Please get in touch if you would like to offer additions by emailing policy@carbonbrief.org.
Brief explanations of the key issues and jargon-filled language that permeate the talks can be found below the interactive table.
Just transition
At COP30 in Brazil in 2025, nations agreed to establish a practical mechanism to help drive a “just transition” to a low-carbon economy.
Key aspects of this “Belém-Antalya mechanism” (BAM) – often referred to as the “just transition mechanism” (JTM) – were agreed during the June climate negotiations this year, but many details are missing and dividing lines remain between parties.
Parties have disagreed about the scope of the mechanism and whether it should be tied to the provision of finance.
Nevertheless, following progress in June within the “just transition work programme” (JTWP), civil society groups highlighted that getting the mechanism up and running is a “key expected outcome” from COP31.
Climate finance
Climate finance is always a highly contested issue at UN climate negotiations.
Developing countries have successfully pushed for a “work programme” on climate finance to feature on the conference agenda.
These parties see this programme as a way to pressure developed countries into providing more funding from their public coffers, specifically under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement. Some are even proposing a “burden sharing” arrangement for climate-finance provision.
This comes against a backdrop of major donors cutting their aid budgets and the Trump administration in the US pressuring multilateral development banks (MDBs) to drop their climate objectives.
Developed countries, which have traditionally been responsible for providing finance, would prefer to keep a broader focus on issues such as improving access to existing finance and broadening the range of donors. Some developing countries, such as small-island states, also support these goals.
Nations have also been discussing Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement under the “Ver