Unprecedented heat has been experienced this May in Portugal and elsewhere around the world. The Algarve, for example, has recorded highs of over 95 degrees Fahrenheit — temperatures previously confined to July and August.

Temperatures this summer are predicted to break all records, further increasing the already extreme risks of wildfires, environmental devastation and community destruction.

The World Meteorological Organisation warned this week that global temperatures are expected to continue reaching record levels by the end of this decade, with a 70% chance that average global warming between this year and 2029 will exceed the critical 1.5 degrees set in the Paris Agreement. The hope then, as now, is to keep post-industrial temperatures below the full emergency threshold of 2.0 degrees.

This all depends on close international cooperation and radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is not happening. There is talk, but still nowhere near enough action.

What is especially alarming is how little is being done by the world’s most powerful leaders. President Donald Trump — who this week described President Vladimir Putin as “crazy”— remains in denial about global warming. The United States, Russia and China are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.

Sky News broadcast an important report this week presenting global warming in a particularly troubling light. Russia is taking advantage of the melting North Polar ice sheet to expand its naval operations and further threaten the Western world.

When not focused on brutal wars, many other political leaders remain preoccupied with domestic issues, such as immigration, the rising cost of living, medical inadequacies and housing shortages.

But let’s not forget climate change.