The verdict is in and now 2023 is the hottest year in history. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced in early December that global average temperatures between January and November were the highest on record – 1.46 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.

Summer this year was the hottest on record and autumn was also the warmest ever, Copernicus reported.

In places like Beijing, which experienced summer-like temperatures in September, extreme weather patterns have continued with the city currently going through the coldest December snap in decades.

With the world facing the more and more likely prospect of extreme weather, countries and corporations continue to buy their time before taking action against fossil fuels.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), politicians only made a weak commitment to begin reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. A stronger statement proposed to “phase-out” oil, gas and coal, has been met with strong opposition from the Saudi Arabia-lead Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

In fact, this year global consumption of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, reached an all-time high, a record 8.5 billion tonnes, as increases in China, India and Indonesia outweighed falling demand in the United States and the European Union.

In Indonesia alone, where coal made up the biggest source of power generation, consumption grew by 11 percent.

Yet it was all good news for Indonesia, where some of the money from this fossil fuel commodity has been used to power the country’s general elections, which kicked into high gear this year.

A report from the Financial Transactions Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) alleged that money from illegal mining, mostly coal and nickel, flowed into the coffers of political parties and individuals with ties to all presidential candidates.

Somehow, this allegation should not come as a surprise, as the illicit practices have been going on for years due to weak election financing law and the expensive price tag of running for political office in the country.

What caught most people by surprise this year was how far some politicians were willing to bend the rules just to win the game.

Until very recently, politicians tended to respect the rules of the game, especially when it came to things like the minimum age requirement.

But this year, desperate times called for extreme measures.

To ease the way for his son to run as vice president for his favored candidate Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, President Joko “Jokowi” seemed to have no problem with the Constitutional Court changing the minimum age requirement for candidates to run to 35 years old.

The machination seems to be paying off now, especially after the second presidential debate when vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka managed to deliver a powerful performance with Prabowo leading in the public opinion polls.

The other consequence of the controversial court verdict is now we have a raised political temperature with opposition candidates expecting the incumbent government to make other extreme measures just to win.

Claims from opposition camps have also been backed by reports that law enforcement agencies and local bureaucracies have worked under the radar to help the presidential ticket backed by the incumbent government.

This extreme desire to win, or in the case of Israeli war in Gaza – desire to punish – is the motive behind the asymmetrical war currently waged in the territory.

In the current conflict, all rules of engagement have been thrown out the window and nothing is spared from becoming a target.

These days in Gaza, men, women, children, hospitals, places of worship and agricultural sites are all casualties in a war of attrition.

And yet, in spite of the extremity with which the Israeli military executes its war, the world continues to treat this violence as business as usual.

This should change in 2024.