November 9, 2025 5:39 PM

What is the COP30 climate summit, and why does it matter?

Every year, the U.N. climate conference conjures hundreds of headlines on global efforts to spare the world from climate catastrophe. This year's begins on Monday in the Brazilian rainforest city of Belem. But what exactly happens at these annual summits? Here’s what you need to know: WHAT IS A COP? The annual conference is known as a COP, which stands for Conference of the Parties that signed the 1992 U.N. climate treaty. The treaty, called the U.N. Framework on Climate Change Convention ...

November 9, 2025 2:22 PM

As COP30 gathers, what’s the latest in climate science?

With the pace of climate change speeding up, extreme weather and other impacts are taking an increasing toll on populations and environments across the globe. Here are some of the developments this year in climate science: WARMER, FASTER Global temperatures are not just climbing, they are now climbing faster than before, with new records logged for 2023 and 2024, and at points in 2025. That finding was part of a key study in June that updated baseline data used in the science reports done ever...