Deadly flooding in Spain and multiple hurricanes in the Southeastern U.S. in recent weeks were made worse by the rise in ocean temperatures associated with climate change. In addition to lives lost and direct economic costs of such disasters, climate change is pushing up the cost of insurance. And the medical profession has raised alarms about other health effects.
The United Arab Emirates and Germany both committed $100 million, but the United States pledged just $17 million. To place that in context, that contribution is approximately half of the annual compensation of ExxonMobil’s CEO, DW Woods.
“The era of global warming has ended and the era of global boiling has arrived,” remarked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. “The air is unbreathable, the heat unbearable and the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable.”