This week, world leaders are gathering in the United Arab Emirates for the latest round of UN climate negotiations – known as COP28.

This will be the moment the world will review its progress against the targets in the Paris Agreement, including the ambition to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

The first Global Stocktake, which was started in Glasgow at COP26, completes in the UAE and will provide an assessment of the progress, or lack of progress, made.

Things don’t look promising. The planet has just experienced the hottest June, July, August, September and October on record - and by a large margin.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report, tellingly called ‘Broken Record – Temperatures Hit New Highs, Yet World Fails to Cut Emissions (Again)’ concludes that the world is heading for a temperature rise far above the Paris Agreement goals.

It finds that, as things stand, the projected increase in global temperatures will be nearly 3 degrees, well above the goal of 1.5 degrees.

The report states that in the short term we must reduce carbon emissions and in the long term we need to remove carbon dioxide from the environment.

Domestically our progress is questionable. The Government has announced plans to accelerate the issuing of oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea.

At the recent Conservative Party Conference, Rishi Sunak pushed back the ban on new fossil fuel vehicles to 2035, watered-down the phase-out of gas boilers and seemed to frame the environment as a wedge issue.

At BBOWT we are playing our part by using nature-based solutions to tackle the nature and climate emergency - for example by restoring habitats to lock in carbon and improve climate resilience.

We have restored our Chimney Meadows nature reserve to a network of species-rich traditional meadows and wetlands. Now that the soils are undisturbed and the grasses and wild flowers are left to grow, the reserve is storing, rather than emitting, carbon – the equivalent of about 460 tonnes of CO₂ a year in the semi-natural grassland.

In October, we launched our biggest-ever fundraising campaign, the Nature Recovery Fund, aiming to raise £3 million in the next three years to turbo-charge work like this tackling the nature and climate crisis.

Changes in land management to help draw down carbon and lock it away are only one piece of the puzzle, but we know that nature-based solutions like this could deliver well over 30% of the emissions reductions needed by 2030.

Across the Wildlife Trusts we have shown the huge benefits of creating spaces for nature. We now need the Government to show global leadership at COP28 by championing nature-based solutions, and domestic leadership by funding them.

The UNEP states that, to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, nature-based solutions can provide 37% of the mitigation needed up to 2030 and, although biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are one of the top five risks over the next 10 years, according to the World Economic Forum, there is a $700 billion per year shortfall to address these issues. The money that needs to be there isn’t.

If Governments across the world do not fund nature-based solutions, the goals of the Paris Agreement will be missed.

If we don’t accelerate the decarbonisation of our economy the goals of the Paris Agreement will be missed.

If we don’t all put pressure on our Governments to achieve the above the goals of the Paris Agreement will be missed.

If we fail, rising global temperatures will lead to more flooding, more droughts, more fires, dying reefs, rising seas and we will all feel the consequences.

COP28 needs to create the spark that accelerates action and provides the tools to let nature help heal our climate.