Fajar Rehman Niazi

As the impacts of climate change grow more alarming, the resolve of nations to take meaningful action seems to weaken. This paradox is nowhere more evident than in the recent failure of nearly every country to meet a critical deadline for new climate commitments. In February 2025, the United Nations (UN) set a deadline for countries to submit updated plans to reduce carbon emissions as part of the Paris Agreement. Yet, shockingly, almost all nations missed this deadline. Only a handful of countries, including major players like the US, the UK, and Brazil, managed to submit their climate action plans on time, leaving the rest of the world to grapple with inaction. The latest global emissions data and climate forecasts reveal that the urgency has never been greater, and yet the international response appears insufficient at best.

The Paris Agreement, signed in 2015, was designed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, aiming to prevent the worst effects of climate change. However, recent reports indicate that global emissions have continued to rise steadily since the agreement was put into effect. The UN database reveals a disturbing trend: only 10 out of nearly 200 countries, all of which are required to submit updated climate plans, met the February 10th deadline. This represents a significant setback in the global fight against climate change, especially considering the urgency that climate experts have repeatedly stressed.

Under the Paris Agreement, each nation is supposed to present a more ambitious target for reducing emissions by 2035, as well as a detailed roadmap outlining how these reductions will be achieved. Global emissions must be cut by about 50% by the end of this decade to stay on track for limiting temperature rise to safer levels. However, despite these alarming figures, most countries failed to make progress or set ambitious targets. According to Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, these national pledges are among the “most important policy documents of this century,” a statement that underscores the gravity of the situation.

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Among the countries that failed to submit updated climate plans were the world’s largest economies and some of the biggest carbon emitters, including the United States, China, and India. The United States, in particular, poses a unique challenge to global climate efforts. Having already withdrawn from the Paris Agreement under the Trump administration, the US rejoined under President Joe Biden. However, the US’s commitment to reducing emissions appears tenuous at best, as the country continues to grapple with political polarization around climate action.

Despite the US’s reentry, its emissions targets were largely unchanged from the time before the Paris withdrawal, which raises questions about its commitment to leading on climate action. While the emissions reduction targets in the Paris Agreement are non-binding, their importance lies in the accountability they provide. These pledges serve as a metric for evaluating whether nations are making progress toward their climate goals or merely paying lip service to the issue.

However, the situation is compounded by the US’s actions and rhetoric under President Trump. His administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement sent a signal to other major economies that climate action could be sidelined without significant consequences. In response, other nations, particularly those in the G20, may be reluctant to take bold steps, fearing economic disadvantages in the absence of global cooperation. This “zero-sum” thinking, where one nation’s inaction triggers a ripple effect across others, hampers the collective effort needed to combat climate change.

Countries, especially those in the Western world, appear to be prioritizing short-term economic interests over long-term climate stability. The absence of a robust transition to renewable energy in many developed nations is concerning. While some countries, like China, have made strides in expanding renewable energy, the West has been slow to invest in large-scale, clean energy solutions. In the face of rising trade tensions and a global push toward economic protectionism, nations may be increasingly inclined to disregard climate commitments in favor of economic gain.

This reluctance to embrace climate solutions is particularly evident in the wealthier nations, who have yet to prioritize a clean energy transition on the scale necessary to meet the Paris targets. Meanwhile, poorer nations, including countries like Pakistan, find themselves at the mercy of climate impacts they did little to cause. For these vulnerable nations, the lack of global climate leadership is more than just an inconvenience—it’s a matter of survival.

The failure of wealthy countries to act on climate change only exacerbates the global inequities tied to environmental degradation. While affluent nations continue to profit from fossil fuel industries and refuse to take sufficient action to mitigate their emissions, developing countries bear the brunt of the climate crisis. Countries in the Global South are already suffering from extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and the loss of biodiversity, while they face major obstacles to building resilient economies.

The need for reparations from wealthier nations—particularly for the climate damages that poorer countries have incurred—has been a frequent point of contention. Unfortunately, this call for justice is largely ignored by the countries responsible for most of the world’s emissions. The lack of international cooperation in addressing these disparities only reinforces existing power structures and delays meaningful solutions. Developing nations, with few resources to combat climate-related disasters, are left to rely on limited local and global resources to adapt to an increasingly hostile environment.

The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat—it is happening now. Last year marked the hottest year on record, and January 2025 was reportedly the warmest month in recorded history. Global temperatures are now 1.75°C higher than pre-industrial times, bringing us dangerously close to breaching the 1.5°C threshold. The consequences of continued inaction are dire: extreme weather events, food and water scarcity, forced migrations, and devastating biodiversity loss.

Given the urgency of the situation, the failure of nearly all countries to meet their climate obligations is deeply concerning. The time for complacency is over. Nations must recognize the collective responsibility they bear in ensuring a livable planet for future generations. It is not enough for a few countries to take action while the rest sit idle. Every nation must step up, set more ambitious emissions targets, and create a roadmap for achieving them.

The failure to act is not only an environmental issue—it is a matter of global equity. Poorer nations can no longer afford to bear the costs of climate change alone. Wealthy nations must provide the necessary support, including financial assistance and technology transfers, to help these countries adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Ultimately, climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution. It is imperative that all countries work together, put aside short-term economic interests, and take bold action to tackle this existential crisis. If we fail to do so, the future of the planet—and the survival of countless species, including our own—will be in jeopardy.