For context, this is where we are right now on the political front:

“Current targets would put the world on track for 3C of warming, which scientists say would ravage coastal cities and destroy agriculture over swathes of the globe”.

Brazil, India and China were accused of holding up progress.

It’s all about “climate credits” and the shifting around of CO2 emission quotas of rich and poor countries.

Executive summary: Pissing into the wind.

Another fun quote:

“Research published during the two weeks of talks showed that greenhouse gas emissions have risen 4% since the Paris accord was signed in 2015, and the world will need to cut carbon by more than 7% a year in the next decade to heed scientific advice”.

You can see how screwed we are because that is so not going to happen.

The tiniest glimmer of hope came from Europe kind of committing to zero net carbon by 2050.

Europe called it the European Green Deal and it’s coming with heaps of cash—hundreds of billions of euros.

Poland—which basically lives and breathes coal—was allowed to opt out.

In the end though, this was the year humanity finally realised that the UN climate talks are just one big annual joke. In case you missed it, here’s the plot showing the dates of all 25 UN conferences and the atmospheric concentration of CO2:

It’s just going to get messier from here in as on-the-ground reality hits pithy pathetic politics.

And the elephant in the room: Is the epic inequality around the world (and within countries) consistent with a real battle against climate change, or will mass civil unrest accelerate in 2020?

Fun times ahead methinks.

[Cover photo credit: Óscar del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images]