It's been five years now since the Paris Agreement to address climate change was adopted by the world's governments. So how is it doing?

Emissions are still rising, despite all the promises, and finance to help poorer nations grow cleanly and adapt to worsening climate impacts remains inadequate, which could threaten their efforts to curb warming and keep people safe.

But encouraging changes are picking up speed too.

Efforts to tackle planetary heating, risky destruction of nature, inequality and the systems that perpetuate those problems are starting to come together in ways that could accelerate action on all of them, officials say.

As worries grow about crossing climate thresholds - like potentially catastrophic losses of Amazon forest and Antarctic ice - we may also be nearing some 'good' tipping points, scientists say, from electric vehicles becoming the norm to coal energy disappearing and more people taking up plant-based diets.

As well, in a 'back to the future' shift, ships might soon be carrying huge volumes of cargo across the ocean powered almost entirely by wind.

What might help all of this climate-positive innovation happen even faster?

Rethinking what counts as successful economic development - to take into account the damage caused to nature - could help drive fairer, safer human progress. Under a reworked human development index, Australia, for instance, falls 72 spots, while greener countries like Costa Rica and Colombia gain ground.

Having more women involved in climate leadership - such as on the currently male-dominated British team preparing for the COP26 U.N. climate talks next year - also could make a difference, say activists, political leaders and celebrities, from actor Emma Watson to former Irish President Mary Robinson.

Women often bear the brunt of climate-related disasters, and are generally more supportive of adapting policies and lifestyles to tackle the issue, they said, calling women "the 'shock absorbers' of climate change".

See you next week!

Laurie

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