At the UN General Assembly, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for greater action on climate change; Austria, too, needs to show more commitment.

At the global level, just under half of human-caused CO2 emissions remain in the atmosphere, with around 27% absorbed by the oceans and 28% by vegetation. Despite rising emissions over recent decades, the share remaining in the atmosphere has stayed stable, aside from annual fluctuations. Nature's capacity to absorb CO2 has apparently increased in parallel with emissions. Based on current knowledge, this is mainly due to accelerated plant growth driven by rising CO2 concentrations: this feedback loop between the climate system and the biosphere has noticeably dampened climate change to date.

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