I recently flew to the Bahamas for a meeting of the IPCC, a scientific organization of the United Nations. Together with three hundred researchers from around the world, we are working on an Assessment Report about the impacts of climate change and adaptation to it.

The IPCC’s reports are intended to provide governments with scientific information for them to develop climate policy. TU/e is well represented, by the way: we have three more colleagues contributing to other IPCC reports.

Columbus demonstrated in 1492 that you can reach the Bahamas by boat, but on this occasion I decided to make an exception and to take a plane. Because of my knowledge of climate change, I choose to avoid flying whenever possible. My last non-work related flight was in 2017, and since COVID I have hardly flown for work either.

That made it all the more striking to see how much the world has changed in recent years. Not so much in the Bahamas: Columbus already described its many islands and lush vegetation, and the masses of American tourists have been visiting the country for decades. The work was not that different either: long days, interesting conversations, lots of coffee, and windowless meeting rooms.

No, it was only on the return journey that it became clear how much the world had changed. First, our flight was delayed by two hours, then by nine, and eventually it became uncertain whether we would depart at all.

The first reason was that two people on the aircraft that was supposed to pick us up were suspected of having Ebola. Fears reminiscent of COVID quickly resurfaced, as people began worrying about disease, quarantine, and closed borders. 

The second reason was that Elon Musk launched a space rocket with a 24-hour delay. Apparently, a megalomaniac billionaire can now impose his will on other countries and force them to close their airspace.

After a return flight without food, British Airways sent us to a hotel in London in the middle of the night. Once I got home, it occurred to me that I had technically slept there illegally. After all, for this unexpected overnight stay I did not have an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)—a type of visa requirement initiated after Brexit.

Ultimately this trip was less an introduction to Columbus’s New World than to Another World, one in which international cooperation and the international legal order are under considerable pressure. It raises an important question: what kind of world are we actually writing IPCC reports for?

Pieter Pauw researches climate policy and is an assistant professor in the Technology, Innovation and Society (IE&IS) group. The views expressed in this column are his own. 

This column was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by the author and an editor.