Stories to Watch 2024
WRI’s Stories to Watch in 2024 center on the art and science of the New Climate Politics. With more than half the world’s population facing an election year, the key question is how elected leaders will balance ambitious climate action across every sector with the ability to bring all citizens along — benefitting not just the climate, but people and nature, too.
4 Stories to Watch in 2024
1) Climate: Adapting Politics to 1.5 Degrees C
This is the decisive decade for national climate action. Choices politicians make in the next few years will decide whether we can limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) and avoid the most devastating climate change impacts.
Will voters prioritize climate action at the polls in 2024? And will elected leaders make bold choices that align with 1.5-degree-C pathways, protect ecosystems and uplift all people through the low-carbon transition?
2) Food: Reforming What Feeds Us
Food connects people, nature and climate in every part of the world. But our current food systems are broken. Food systems cause 34% of all greenhouse gas emissions, yet one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted and hundreds of millions of people still go hungry.
Leaders committed to incorporate sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems into their national climate plans by 2025. Will they take steps this year to fulfill that promise?
3) The Grid: Leadership for Critical Infrastructure
The clean energy revolution is already underway. But we cannot unleash its full potential without modernizing the world’s electricity grids to connect all people to clean, reliable power.
Will countries prioritize and invest in grid reform? And how will they navigate thorny challenges related to policy, finance, land and technology?
4) Heat: Tackling the Silent Killer
The last nine years were all among the hottest on record. 2023 topped the chart by a significant margin. And heat kills — especially in poor and marginalized communities. This is a story about the human toll of climate change, and about how we defend the lives, voices and rights of those most vulnerable to its impacts.
How do we address heat, the silent killer of climate change? Will cities, home to more than half the world’s population, take the lead in addressing extreme temperatures and their impacts?
Learn more about WRI's four stories to watch in 2024.
