Kuala Lumpur, Oct 15 More than 500 participants from 37 countries at the Global Tipping Points Conference 2026 in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur on Thursday signed a declaration, calling for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, carbon pricing, building fiscal room before shocks, and phasing out fossil fuels.
The declaration, called ‘the Kuala Lumpur Tipping Points Declaration’, also stressed that physical, social, economic, and fiscal tipping points are interlinked, and that Asia is both heavily exposed and central to the response.
The conference, held from October 12 to October 15, brought together researchers, policymakers and practitioners to understand planetary tipping points.
Tipping points are essentially critical thresholds beyond which a natural system can tip into an entirely different state and cause irreversible and disastrous consequences for the planet, including more warming.
The risk of activating tipping processes exists at current levels of global warming, and increases with every 0.1 degree Celsius and every year of overshooting the globally agreed goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Ice sheets, tropical forests, and coral reef systems are approaching their tipping point thresholds, the crossing of which would lead to cascading consequences for food security, displacement, health, and economic stability that fall with particular force on Asia, home to the largest share of the world’s population approaching climate and health tipping points,” said the declaration.
To tackle the situation, the declaration noted that governments across the world need to talk about the above-mentioned risks, and accelerate the transition to clean, secure energy, and a rapid, just, and orderly phase-out of fossil fuels.
The participants also made a particular commitment regarding artificial intelligence (AI).
“We commit to AI that strengthens people’s ability to think and act for themselves, supports social cohesion and shared prosperity, and operates within planetary limits. Our measure of progress is whether technology helps both people and planet to thrive,” said the declaration.
(PTI News)
