Mark Ashenden

Climate change is already causing monumental damage to the planet with the displacement of people a huge concern. Sea level rises will affect coastal communities, particularly in many low-lying islands found in the Pacific, as well as reducing freshwater availability on those islands. Extreme weather events such as storms, cyclones, floods, droughts and heatwaves will only exacerbate these issues.

"The UN agency for Palestinian refugees will run out of fuel on Wednesday night – forcing us to halt operations and delivery of humanitarian aid to people in need." This was the stark warning by the UN agency in Gaza. They say nearly 600,000 internally displaced Gazans are sheltering in their 150 facilities with one third of hospitals and nearly two-thirds of primary healthcare clinics already shut down due to damage from the war and a lack of fuel. It would seem worse is to come.

"I will not be a caretaker. It simply wouldn't do justice to the scale, to the magnitude of our challenge. I will be driven by facts, by numbers, by science." The words of Wopke Hoekstra during his long grilling in the EU Parliament last Monday. Fighting talk from the amateur kickboxer as Europe's lawmakers scrutinized his bid to be Europe's next climate chief. He vowed to make further promises to strengthen green measures and was finally approved in the post on Thursday.