As world leaders gather to address the climate crisis in Madrid, massive wildfires have engulfed Australia in flames and smoke. More than 100 climate-fueled blazes have killed at least six people and pushed air quality levels in Sydney to 12 times hazardous levels. Thousands braved extreme air pollution Wednesday to protest the government’s climate inaction outside Sydney Town Hall. As Democracy Now! broadcasts live from inside the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain, we speak with Australian environmental scientist Bill Hare, director of Climate Analytics and a coordinator of the Climate Action Tracker, which monitors global progress toward the Paris Agreement. The group’s new report shows the world is on track to warm by 2.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, double the rate scientists say is needed to limit the worst impacts of climate change.
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