ARCHIVE: Redding, California, US - 28 July 2018
1. House burning down in Northern California wildfire
2. Firefighter spraying water on fire
3. House and forest on fire
4. Fire and ashes on the ground
ARCHIVE: Venice, Italy - 1 November 2018
5. People walking through flooded archway in boots
6. People in flooded archway
7. Flooded St Mark's Square in front of St Mark's Basilica, with seagull swimming in water
ARCHIVE: Manila Bay, Philippines - 15 September 2018
8. Palm trees waving as typhoon Mangkhut hits
9. Traffic driving through floodwaters, with waves crashing in the background
Katowice, Poland - 20 November 2018
10. COP24 conference centre in front of adjacent "Spodek" Arena accommodating NGO area and exhibits
11. Logo of "COP24 Katowice" on COP24 conference centre
12. Workers applying design elements on COP24 conference centre
13. COP24 conference centre
14. COP24 conference site with tents, "Spodek" Arena and green areas
15. COP24 conference site in front of closed mine turned into Silesian museum and culture centre
Warsaw, Poland - 9 November 2018
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Michal Kurtyka, COP24 President and Polish Deputy Environment Minister:
"Looking from the outside perspective, it's an impossible task, getting agreed 196 countries, and I take it really in a very humble way, so I hope that parties will be able to reach a compromise and that we will be able to say that Katowice contributed positively to this global effort."
Katowice, Poland - 20 November 2018
17. Workers inside plenary hall of COP24 conference
18. Tables and screens in COP24 plenary hall
19. Workers unfolding posters reading (English) "Touch points in Katowice"
20. Hall in COP24 conference venue
21. People on stairs from COP24 conference entrance
Warsaw, Poland - 9 November 2018
22. Close up of Kurtyka's hands
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Michal Kurtyka, COP24 President and Polish Deputy Environment minister:
"It will be, I think, one of the important COPs, and we must remain humble, but it will be the one which will have also quite significant consequences for humanity and for the way we take care of our planet."
ARCHIVE: Panama City, Florida, US - 10 October 2018
24. Debris and damaged vehicle, hit by Hurricane Michael
25. View from inside hotel looking out front window as canopy collapses and Hurricane Michael sends debris flying
26. Damaged vehicle in debris
ARCHIVE: Near Magdeburg, Germany - 25 October 2018
27. River Elbe at record low level, with sandbanks
ARCHIVE: Cologne, Germany - 25 October 2018
28. Sandbanks at river Rhine
Berlin, Germany - 7 November 2018
29. Former Polish climate negotiator Lidia Wojtal walking down hallway
30. SOUNDBITE (English) Lidia Wojtal, an associate with ClimateKos consultancy and former Polish climate negotiator:
"In Paris, we decided that everybody is going to contribute to this new system, so no exceptions, everybody is doing something. And the Paris rulebook is actually about who and how we are going to contribute to that. Obviously not all countries are at the same stage of development and capacity building, so we need to also take that into account and differentiate between the responsibilities. And that's a huge task."
Katowice, Poland - 20 November 2018
31. Former mine shaft tower beside high-rise building
32. Site of 2018 COP24 UN climate conference in front of Silesian museum and Culture Centre
33. "Spodek" arena on conference site
34. Cars on street in Katowice
Berlin, Germany - 7 November 2018
35. Designated Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Johan Rockstrom talking to colleague at briefing
36. SOUNDBITE (English) Johan Rockstrom, ecologist and designated Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research:
"Everyone recognised that the national plans, when you add everything up, will take us way beyond 3, potentially 4 degrees Celsius warming, so these national plans have to be revised and updated. And we know scientifically that we have to bend the global curve of emissions no later than 2020, so just the year after Katowice. We know that we're moving in the wrong direction. So, 2018 and 2019 are decisive years for all countries in the world to revise their plans, and really start implementing de-carbonisation policies and pathways."
37. Close up of Johan Rockstrom's hands
38. SOUNDBITE (English) Johan Rockstrom, designated director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research:
"We are starting to see a momentum rising, not yet, you know, universally all countries. But I foresee that we will soon see a large enough minority of significant economies moving decisively in the right direction, that can have spillover effects which can be positive."
ARCHIVE: Hambach Forest, Germany - 27 October 2018
39. Anti-coal demonstrators marching in protest against coal, climate change, and to save ancient Hambach Forest, a forest at risk of being felled for mining operations by energy giant RWE
40. Demonstrators marching
41. Large coal excavator moving
42. Protesters gathering at edge of RWE mine beside large coal excavator
43. Coal mine with large coal excavator
Three years after sealing a landmark global climate deal in Paris, world leaders will be gathering again to agree on the fine print in Katowice, Poland from 2 December.
The euphoria of 2015 has given way to sober realisation that getting an agreement among almost 200 countries, each with their own political and economic demands, will be challenging, as evidenced by President Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris accord, citing his mantra "America First."
"Looking from the outside perspective, it's an impossible task," Poland's deputy environment minister, Michal Kurtyka, said of the talks that he will preside in Katowice from December 2-14.
Top of the agenda will be finalising the so-called Paris rulebook, which determines how countries had to count their greenhouse gas emissions, transparently reporting them to the rest of the world and reveal what they are doing to reduce them.
Seasoned negotiators are calling the meeting, which is expected to draw 25,000 participants, 'Paris 2.0' because of the high stakes at play in Katowice.
Forest fires from California to Greece, droughts in Germany and Australia, tropical cyclones Mangkhut in the Pacific and Michael in the Atlantic: scientists say this year's extreme weather offers a glimpse of disasters to come if global warming continues unabated.
A recent report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that time is running out if the world wants to achieve the most ambitious target in the Paris agreement, keeping global warming at 1.5 Celsius.
The planet has already warmed by almost 1 degree since pre-industrial times and it is on course for another 2-3 degrees of warming by the end of the century unless drastic action is taken.
The Katowice conference will have "quite significant consequences for humanity and for the way in which we take care of our planet," Kurtyka told the Associated Press ahead of the talks.
Experts agree that the Paris goals can only be met by cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050.
But the Paris agreement let countries set their own emissions targets. Some are on track, others are not. Overall, the world is heading the wrong way.
Last week, the World Meteorological Organization said globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide reached a new record in 2017, while the level of other heat-trapping gases such methane and nitrous oxide also rose.
2018 is expected to see another 2 per cent increase in human-made emissions, as construction of coal-fired power plants in Asia and Africa continue while the number of carbon-absorbing forests are felled faster than they can regrow.
"Everyone recognised that the national plans, when you add everything up, will take us way beyond 3, potentially 4 degrees Celsius warming," said Johan Rockstrom, the incoming Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
"We know that we're moving in the wrong direction," said Rockstrom. "We need to bend the global carbon emissions no later than 2020, in two years' time, to stand a chance to stay under 2 degrees Celsius."
Convincing countries to set new, tougher targets for emissions reduction by 2020 is a key challenge in Katowice.
Doing so will entail a transformation of all sectors of their economies, including a complete end to burning fossil fuel.
Poor nations want rich countries to pledge the biggest cuts, on the grounds that they're responsible for most of the carbon emissions in the atmosphere.
Rich countries say they are willing to lead the way, but only if poor nations play their part as well.
"Obviously not all countries are at the same stage of development," said Lidia Wojtal, an associate with Berlin-based consultancy ClimateKos and a former Polish climate negotiator.
"So we need to also take that into account and differentiate between the responsibilities. And that's a huge task," she added.
Among those likely to be pressing hardest for ambitious measures will be small island nations, which are already facing serious challenges from climate change.
The US, meanwhile, is far from being the driving force it was in Paris under President Barack Obama.
Brazil and Australia, previously staunch backers of the accord, appeared to be following in Trump's footsteps.
Some observers fear nationalist thinking on climate could scupper all hopes of meaningful progress in Katowice. Others are more optimistic.
"We will soon see a large enough minority of significant economies moving decisively in the right direction," said Rockstrom.
"That can have spillover effects which can be positive," he added.
Poland could end up playing a crucial role in bringing opposing sides together.
The country presided over three previous rounds of climate talks, and its heavy reliance on carbon-intensive coal for energy is forcing Warsaw to mull some tough measures in the years ahead.
The 24th Conference of the Parties, or COP24 as it is known, will be held on the site of a Katowice mine that was closed in 1999, after 176 years of coal production.
Five out of the city's seven collieries have been closed since the 1990s, as Poland phased out communist-era subsidies and moved to a market economy.
Still, in another part of the city, some 1,500 miners continue to extract thousands of tons of coal daily.
Poland intends to send a signal that their future, and by extension that of millions of others whose jobs are at risk from decarbonisation, aren't being forgotten.
During the first week of talks, leaders are expected to sign a Polish-backed declaration calling for a "just transition" that will "create quality jobs in regions affected by transition to a low-carbon economy."
Then, negotiators will get down to the gritty task of trimming a 300-page draft into a workable and meaningful agreement that governments can sign off on at the end of the second week.
"I hope that parties will be able to reach a compromise and that we will be able to say that Katowice contributed positively to this global effort," Kurtyka said.
