Get ready for a tumultuous news year in 2024, which could become the year of the Great Distraction. Dominating the headlines will be wars and rising geopolitical tensions, humanitarian crises, climate-linked disasters and dozens of national and territorial elections. It will be a challenge for humanity to remain singularly focused on some of the greatest threats facing the planet, especially climate change and the degradation of nature. Climate impacts are worsening and the costs in lives and livelihoods are growing and affecting much of the planet. It is a crisis that demands, and needs, constant focus by governments, businesses and the public.

And yet, global climate action could well be in for a rough ride in 2024, a year that could turn out to be even hotter than the record-breaking 2023. The recent storms and flooding in Eastern Australia are a portent of what could be in store. The earth is giving plenty of warning signs, too. Global average sea surface temperatures remain at record levels (warmer oceans provide more energy for weather systems) and global average surface air temperatures remain at elevated levels, too, aided by the lingering El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean.