Global Powers Strike Historic Climate Deal as Ocean Temps Hit Record
World leaders reached a landmark accord in Geneva pledging net-zero emissions by 2040, as a new UN report confirmed ocean surface temperatures have broken every historical record for the fourth consecutive year.
World leaders gathered at the Palais des Nations in Geneva for the 48-hour emergency summit. Photo: UN / Olivier Bonin
In what diplomats are calling the most significant environmental agreement since the Paris Accords, representatives from 142 nations signed the Geneva Protocol on Climate Emergency on Monday, committing to binding emissions cuts and a shared financing mechanism worth $2.4 trillion over the next fifteen years.
The breakthrough came after forty-eight hours of marathon negotiations that pushed through three consecutive nights. The pivotal moment arrived when the G7 bloc agreed to a "climate reparations" fund for developing nations — a concession that unlocked commitments from the African Union and South Asian bloc that had previously resisted earlier drafts.
"We have chosen the future over comfort. The cost of inaction was always going to be greater than the cost of courage."— UN Secretary-General, press conference, Geneva