UN climate report; joint warning to North Korea; inhalable COVID vaccine

A new climate report from the United Nations found the world is “nowhere near” hitting greenhouse gas emissions targets; North Korea was the recipient of a joint warning over nuclear testing; and China launched an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine. The stories highlight the Daily Rundown for Wednesday, October 26, 2022.

U.N. climate report – According to a new report from UN Climate Change released Wednesday, current pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions put the planet on course to blow past the limit for global warming countries agreed to in the 2015 Paris climate accord. The latest estimate, based on 193 national emissions targets, would see temperatures rise to 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial averages by the end of the century. That’s a full degree higher than the ambitious goal set in the Paris pact to limit warming by 1.5 C (2.7 F).

“We are still nowhere near the scale and pace of emission reductions required to put us on track toward a 1.5 degrees Celsius world,” UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said in a statement. “To keep this goal alive, national governments need to strengthen their climate action plans now and implement them in the next eight years.”

Joint warning to North Korea – Following a Wednesday meeting, the United States, Japan and South Korea warned that an “unparalleled” scale of response would be warranted if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear bomb test. If that happens, it would be the first such test from North Korea since 2017.

“North Korea’s strengthening of its nuclear missile activities, including the recent extremely high frequency of ballistic missile launches, poses a clear and serious challenge to the international community,” Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori said Wednesday. “On that basis, we agreed to further strengthen the deterrence and coping capabilities of the Japan-U.S. and U.S.-South Korea alliances, and to further promote trilateral security cooperation.”

Inhalable COVID-19 vaccine – In what appears to be a world first, the Chinese city of Shanghai started administering an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday. It’s being offered for free as a booster dose for previously vaccinated individuals, according to an announcement posted on an official city social media account.

“It was like drinking a cup of milk tea,” a Shanghai resident identifying himself as “Mr. Chen” said. “When I breathed it in, it tasted a bit sweet.”

China doesn’t have vaccine mandates. However, the country wants more people to get booster shots before it relaxes its controversial “zero-COVID” policy.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.