U.N. climate negotiations faced mounting pressure as governments struggled to resolve a dispute over the timing of major scientific assessments, threatening to complicate efforts to strengthen climate action at COP31 while officials warned that the world was heading toward catastrophe.
The disagreement centers on whether the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change should complete its next major assessments before the 2028 global stocktake, when governments are due to evaluate progress under the Paris Agreement and consider stronger measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
