The world is not where it needs to be to stop the consequences of climate change.

Extreme heat, floods and wildfires are already ravaging the planet. CU Boulder Professor Max Boykoff wonders whether global leaders will ever be able to reconcile their differences to make the planet a safer place.

“I just sometimes wonder, are we as a human species capable of actually stepping up to this challenge?” Boykoff said. “I think we’d all like to believe that we are. I think that we’d all like to see that we’re making progress, but we need to see results. We need to see that we are capable and we need leadership to show us that we are capable, or we need new leadership.”

Boykoff is attending the COP28 United Nations Climate Conference in the United Arab Emirates. The conference, a gathering of world leaders to discuss global climate action, began on Thursday and will conclude on Dec. 12. This will be the seventh UN Climate Conference Boykoff has attended.

“I would love for everyone to take away all of their baggage and shackles from self-interest and really think about the collective and the global good,” Boykoff said. “But, the realities are that there’s going to be a lot of positioning, there’s going to be a lot of countries continuing to pursue their own interests at these international meetings.”

CU Boulder Professor Amanda Carrico said there have been challenges in building a bipartisan approach to addressing climate change in the United States alone.

“It’s frustrating to watch,” she said, adding, “I think we’re well below where we want to be at this point in time and where we hope to be.”

The United States is the second largest carbon emitter globally, accounting for about 16% of the global whole, Boykoff said. Ongoing deployment of climate policy action and funding to decrease emissions is needed from the U.S. government urgently.

“In the United States, I think we need to recognize through each and every policy decision that’s made at each and every level of governance we need to be integrating climate change considerations,” Boykoff said.

That includes Boulder, he said.

“Some people like to think that what happens in Boulder doesn’t really impact what happens at the national and international level and vice versa … but it should be turned on its head,” Boykoff said. “It’s actually absolutely the opposite.”

One major factor in Boulder is affordable housing, Boykoff said. Living closer to work or within walking distance of a grocery store reduces the need to drive a car.

Additionally, the more Boulder transitions to electric cars and buses the more it will help noise pollution, local air quality and reduce fossil fuel impact.

“That matters. That reduces emissions. It also actually creates a more lovely experience in the world because many of us want to live in downtown Boulder but can’t afford it,” Boykoff said. “So, by creating affordable housing and putting infill in different places, that’s great for community, that’s great for people’s well-being and it’s also great for the climate.”

United Nations conference

During the conference, Boykoff hopes to see leaders discuss a “phase out” of fossil fuels rather than a “phase down.” He said talking about a “phase down” approach is a different way of avoiding the reality of the situation.

“One of the countries that is discussing phase down rather than phase out is our very own United States,” Boykoff said. “There’s some reluctance to talk about phase out.”

Carrico said it’s hard for nations to come together during the conference due to so many different cultures, histories, interests, socioeconomic constraints and more.

“I’d love to see a strengthening of commitments and accountability, especially from the largest emitters in the world,” Carrico said.

Professor Pedro DiNezio said the world is running out of time to stop global warming. Without serious change, there will continue to be more heat waves, extreme downpours, flooding, wildfires, melting of polar ice caps and sea level rise.

“I hope to see a stronger commitment from industrialized nations who are most responsible for global warming and the climate crisis,” DiNezio said. “I expect to see more help to developing nations so there can be an inclusive transition to renewable energy and building of infrastructure to protect themselves from the results of global warming which they are not responsible for.”

Boykoff said there needs to be a fundamental shift in global negotiations. Many leaders are good at articulating their individual interests, but the focus needs to be on taking action to benefit everyone, which is not as easy to do.

“It’s going to take a genuine, deep-seated willingness to demonstrate empathy and understanding of others’ situation and recognition and courage to recognize that we collectively face real challenges associated with our practices,” Boykoff said.

“It’s going to take the kinds of humility, determination, ability and capacity to listen and real intelligence in many ways that often get undervalued in these talks.”

CU Boulder Lecturer Paul Komor said governments worldwide need to recognize the economic benefit of renewable energy, especially solar, and the opportunity it provides for each country to have its own energy source. Countries also need to look at innovative ways to encourage private capital investment, he said.

“Remove fossil fuel subsidies no matter how politically powerful and no matter how deeply entrenched in the tax code,” Komor said.

Impact in Colorado

The effects of climate change are happening now. In Colorado, DiNezio said, winters are getting shorter with less cold and less snow. The snow in the mountains is melting faster and sooner, and shorter winters mean shorter ski seasons which impacts tourism.

“If we depend on snowmelt for our water and it all melts faster, sooner, then we will run out of water at the end of the melt season,” DiNezio said.

On the flip side, if the warmest day in Boulder this summer was 95 degrees, two or three degrees of warming escalates the hottest day to 98 degrees.

“Just by warming all days uniformly, you start to have these days that are warmer than anything we’ve seen before,” DiNezio said.

When the climate warms, everything becomes drier. The atmosphere is “thirsty,” DiNezio said, and so it sucks up the moisture in the soil, trees and dead logs, making it more prone to extreme wildfires.

Because the atmosphere is “thirsty” the air then holds more water vapor. DiNezio said every one degree Celsius of warming means the atmosphere can hold 7% more water vapor.

“That will make your rainiest day more rainy because it will have that extra 14% (of rain),” DiNezio said.

However, the infrastructure people have built around the world isn’t meant to withstand such extremes, which is one reason why the impacts are so devastating.

Carrico said the problem is infrastructure is expensive, and while democracy has its virtues, it’s not known for its efficiency. However, policies will make changes in behavior easier for people.

“One fundamental element of climate change is that it’s driven by human behavior … and it will only be addressed by changing human behavior,” Carrico said.

Komor said wind and solar are great alternatives for fossil fuels but there are still problem areas that need to be addressed. For example, electricity alone can’t generate enough heat to make steel.

“In those sectors, we need continued technology innovation,” Komor said.

There needs to be support for companies to drive technology development through government policy, Komor said.

For example, a small company may have an idea that could reduce the steel industry’s need for coal but is limited by money. The private sector might be hesitant to invest due to risky returns, which is where the government can step in.

Boykoff said the part of these international meetings that gives him hope is the emerging voices of young leaders. Young people move faster toward solutions, he said, because they were born into a world with climate change.

“That is a key piece for me about what I find encouraging about going into these meetings,” Boykoff said. “They demonstrate to me that there are some real positive possibilities for us to move forward faster, to actually realize the goals.”