T he United Nations’ annual climate talks open in Turkey on Monday as Cop31 – with experts suggesting we are already heading for a long-term breach of the crucial limit of global temperatures hitting 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

As nearly 200 countries gather for the two-week summit in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya , governments must deal with an energy crisis fuelled by the war in the Middle East and a growing list of disasters, including deadly floods in Nepal , heatwaves in Europe and wildfires in Indonesia .

These UN talks come at a time when global temperatures already stand at about 1.4C above pre-industrial levels, and 1.5C, the goal set under the 2015 Paris Agreement , is very likely to be breached. The UN Environment Programme’s latest report said last month that it is now about managing the overshoot, to then return below 1.5C.

Overshoot describes a period in which temperatures rise above 1.5C before any return below it.…