World leaders gathered in Geneva on Tuesday to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), calling for new guardrails to protect rights amid a surge of conflict and other challenges. 

Nations at COP28 in Dubai approved earlier on Wednesday a roadmap for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” – a first for a UN climate conference – but the deal still stopped short of a long-demanded call for a “phaseout” of oil, coal and gas.

As COP28 heads into its final working days in Dubai, the UN’s agriculture wing launched on Sunday a ground-breaking plan that looks to transform the world’s agrifood systems from a net emitter to a carbon sink by 2050.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday urged a deal at COP28 on the phaseout of fossil fuels, telling negotiators that “now is the time for maximum ambition and maximum flexibility,” as UN climate talks in Dubai head into the home stretch.

Corruption not only robs resources, it robs people of hope, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, as nations gathered in Atlanta, United States of America, for the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

Young climate advocates at COP28 in Dubai on Friday said they will not sit idly by while climate change threatens their futures. They said their voices and ideas can help rescue the planet and demanded that government policymakers put the needs of the world’s nearly 2 billion children first.

After a break, COP28 continues its work on Friday, also the day talks on an outcome text kick into high gear. Negotiators are aiming to agree on how to bolster emissions-cutting targets set by the Paris Agreement and what to do about the future of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal.

The key to ensuring that communities – especially the most vulnerable – can leave fossil-fuel based economies behind, is to create space for a just transition to a green economy, clean energy advocates and representatives of indigenous groups argued on Tuesday at COP28.

With rising temperatures leading to demand for more air conditioners and other cooling equipment, a new UN report launched Tuesday at COP28 climate talks in Dubai lays out a pathway to cut emissions across the cooling sector worldwide. 

UN climate chief Simon Stiell said on Wednesday that COP28 delegates are not in Dubai to “score points” and play at “lowest-denominator politics”; they must take ambitious action on curbing global warming and ending the climate crisis.