Global Carbon Budget report finds emissions from fossil fuels will rise to another record high this year

Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, has gone off-script - he said he left behind his “well-prepared speech” after watching yesterday’s leaders make their statements on silent screens above comfortable couches in an adjoining room at the Cop29 venue in Baku yesterday.

“People there eat, drink, meet and take photos together - while images of voiceless leaders play on and on and on in the background,” he said. “To me, this seems exactly like what happens in the real world every day. Life goes on, with its old habits, and our speeches - full of good words about fighting climate change - change nothing.”

He pointed to the UN Secretary-General’s statement yesterday highlighting that carbon emissions increased between the last Cop and this one, a finding that my colleague Damian Carrington has broken down here.

“What does it mean for the future of the world if the biggest polluters continue as usual?” asked Rama. “What on earth are we doing in this gathering, over and over and over, if there is no common political will on the horizon to go beyond words and unite for meaningful action?”

Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh, has hit out at “limitless consumption” and called out for a new culture without waste, fossil fuels or personal profit.

“Our civilisation is at a great risk as we continue to promote self-destructive values,” said Yunus, an economist and Nobel laureate. “We have chosen a lifestyle that works against the environment. We justify this with an economic framework that is considered as natural as the planetary system.”

Yunus became the caretaker head of Bangladesh’s interim government in August, after the nation’s longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled abroad in the face of violent unrest against her rule.

Yunus called for a counter culture based on different values, but said the lifestyle would be chosen by young people, rather than imposed on them.

“It can be done,” said Yunus. “All we need to do is accept a new lifestyle consistent with the safety of the planet and all who live on it.”