Vox Sentences - "A defining time for our planet”

It's still possible to avoid catastrophic climate change, UN report says; the EU and US weigh stricter sanctions on Russia.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Emissions must peak by 2025 to prevent the worst effects of climate change

Federico Gambarini/Picture Alliance via Getty Images

• The latest UN climate report, published Monday, says the world has the resources to prevent catastrophic climate change, but the global fossil fuel addiction is getting in the way. [CNN / Angela Dewan and Rachel Ramirez]
• The report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says to limit warming to 1.5°Celsius above pre-industrial levels — the point at which climate change impacts are irreversible — greenhouse gas emissions have to peak before 2025. [CNBC / Sam Meredith]
• Nearly 200 countries, including the US, agreed to the 1.5°C threshold as part of the 2016 Paris Agreement. But to make good on their promises, countries and corporations must stop financing fossil fuel projects and invest three to six times the amount they are currently investing in renewable energy. [Protocol / Brian Kahn]
• To bring temperatures back down by the end of the century, countries would need to quickly adopt green energy and carbon dioxide removal technology. That technology is more affordable than it was in 2016, but hasn’t been as widely or rapidly adopted as it should have been. [Guardian / Fiona Harvey]
• That means the world is likely headed past 1.5°C of warming, particularly given that numerous new fossil fuel projects are currently underway. [Quartz / Tim McDonnell]

Russian atrocities prompt talks of stricter sanctions

• Many countries in the West are mulling tougher sanctions for Russia on Monday as images spread of dead Ukrainian civilians in the streets outside of Kyiv. [Associated Press / Oleksandr Stashevskyi and Nebi Qena]
• On Sunday, Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk accused Russian troops of killing up to 300 residents after officials uncovered mass graves following a Russian retreat from the area. [Reuters / Simon Gardner]
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the reports, and US President Joe Biden said the photos were more evidence of Russia’s war crimes. Without specific evidence of its own, the Kremlin accused the West of staging the bodies in a hoax to smear Russia. [Washington Post / Jeanne Whalen, Robyn Dixon, and Mary Ilyushina]
• European leaders are now weighing new sanctions on Russian energy exports — a move they have so far resisted due to their dependence on them. [Politico / Barbara Moens]
• The US is also seeking Russia’s suspension from the Human Rights Council. The International Criminal Court has been investigating allegations of Russian war crimes. [Axios / Jacob Knutson]

A 60-year-old man in Germany allegedly got 90 Covid-19 shots so he could sell the forged vaccinations cards. [AP / Kirsten Grieshaber]

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared at the Grammy Awards on Sunday and appealed to viewers for help. [Washington Post / Emily Yahr]
• Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is expected to be confirmed this week. [CNN / Alex Rogers]
• Police have arrested a suspect in a mass shooting that killed six and wounded a dozen others in Sacramento on Sunday. [BBC]

“A defining moment for our planet.”

US special climate envoy John Kerry on the significance of the latest IPCC report / ABC

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