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The first chart shows atmospheric CO2 levels in recent years, with average seasonal cycle removed. The second chart shows CO2 levels during the last three glacial cycles, as reconstructed from ice cores.

Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting land ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms. The first chart tracks the change in sea level since 1993 as observed by satellites. The second chart, derived from coastal tide gauge data, shows how much sea level changed from about 1870 to 2000.

Countries committed under the Paris Agreement to a broad goal of limiting global temperature rise to under 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F), ideally 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F). The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear that half a degree of warming makes a huge difference, and 1.5 degrees C is the safer target.

It will take a combination of clean energy expansion, policy change and increased accessibility to take grid 2.0 from concept to reality.

Independent charity Sustainable Shipping Initiative launched its Roadmap to 2040, which outlines 6 criteria that chart a path toward the development of a sustainable shipping industry by 2040. The criteria call on the industry to collectively create financial solutions that accelerate sustainability performance, diversify energy and fuel supply, increase transparency and accountability, and more. 

The government has charted a zero-waste plan that aims to abolish single-use plastic by 2030. Malaysia is the first country in Southeast Asia to take bold action to tackle plastic pollution.

The Mission 2020 campaign defines six milestones -in energy, transport, land use, industry, infrastructure and finance - that give governments and industries a clear roadmap to put us on a path towards achieving 1.5 degrees C. In a working paper published today, WRI found progress in some areas, but we'll need faster action in order to achieve the 2020 turning point.

This month BNP Paribas, the world's seventh-largest financial institution, announced a new palm oil policy that sets responsible palm oil production as a pre-condition for financing. The policy requires that companies receiving financing protect forests and indigenous people. It also requires companies to adhere to strict human rights and labor standards, end the use of hazardous pesticides, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other significant measures. The move charts a new path for responsible financing that all major financial institutions should follow - or else face the growing consumer backlash against environmentally destructive institutions.

NRG Energy announced new long-term sustainability targets, which include slashing carbon-dioxide emissions from 2014 levels 50 percent by 2030 and 90 percent by 2050.

The International Panel on Climate Change has already warned of irreversible damage linked to greenhouse gas emissions and called for an 80-percent reduction of power-sector emissions by 2050. "We decided to go a little further."