COP27: Why world must break ‘groundhog day’ climate loop 

THE 1993 hit movie, Groundhog Day, is based around the lead character played by Bill Murray being caught in a time loop, repeatedly living the same day.

COP climate change watchers will be forgiven for having the same feeling as the latest big, annual summit starts in Egypt on Sunday (Nov 6). Despite landmark report after report being released recently on the crisis point the world is at with climate change, game-changing progress in global negotiations is unlikely to be reached at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh this month.

In recent days, for instance, the United Nations concluded in a hard-hitting publication that there is now “no credible pathway” to keep the increase in global temperatures below 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. That target, which was set at the Paris conference in 2015, is so significant as many scientists say it is the threshold at which global warming will have the most dangerous impact for populations around the world.