UN chief urges countries to slash emissions, protect people and nature from climate extremes, boost climate finance and clamp down on fossil fuel industry
Humanity is playing Russian roulette with planet Earth due to its dangerous actions that have accelerated the climate emergency. Decisions by global leaders in the next 18 months will decide the fate of billions, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an address on World Environment Day.
Guterres highlighted the current state of the world on June 5, 2024. The first five months of the year have already seen existing climate records broken.
He also laid emphasis on the 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) target decided upon by global leaders under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. But even 10 years after the Agreement was reached, the target had not been achieved though it was within reach.
Meanwhile, the world was continuing to use fossil fuels and increase the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The results of humanity’s actions could be catastrophic, he added.
“So, as the world meets in Bonn for climate talks, and gears up for the G7 and G20 Summits, the United Nations General Assembly, and COP29 (in Baku), we need maximum ambition, maximum acceleration and maximum cooperation,” he urged.
‘Moment of truth’
The venue of Guterres’ address was New York City’s American Museum of Natural History.
“This great Museum tells the amazing story of our natural world. Of the vast forces that have shaped life on Earth over billions of years. Humanity is just one small blip on the radar. But like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact,” said Guterres.
Humanity was not only a danger but also a solution to the planet’s ills. “We are at a moment of truth,” the UN chief said.
He cited various instances from the first half of the year to prove his point.
The European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service had officially reported May 2024 as the hottest May in recorded history. “This marks twelve straight months of the hottest months ever. For the past year, every turn of the calendar has turned up the heat,” said Guterres.
Asia, the world’s largest continent, had already been baked by a brutal heatwave that had shrivelled crops, closed schools, and killed people.
Cities across the world — New Delhi, Bamako and Mexico City — were scorching. Savage storms in the United States had destroyed communities and lives. Drought disasters had been declared across Southern Africa.
There had been extreme rainfall in the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Brazil. Even as corals worldwide were being bleached due to unprecedented ocean temperatures.
All this had hit people where it hurt the most. “From supply-chains severed, to rising prices, mounting food insecurity, and uninsurable homes and businesses. That bill will keep growing. Even if emissions hit zero tomorrow, a recent study found that climate chaos will still cost at least $38 trillion a year by 2050,” noted Guterres.
He also expressed despair about what he termed was a “travesty of climate justice” that those least responsible for the crisis were the hardest hit: the poorest people; the most vulnerable countries; Indigenous Peoples; women and girls.
This, even as the richest one per cent emitted as much as two-thirds of humanity.
“And extreme events turbocharged by climate chaos are piling up: Destroying lives, pummelling economies, and hammering health; Wrecking sustainable development; forcing people from their homes; and rocking the foundations of peace and security — as people are displaced and vital resources depleted,” observed the UN chief.
The 1.5 degrees number
Guterres laid particular emphasis on the 2015 Paris Agreement target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees.
Global emissions had risen by one per cent in 2023. They should be falling nine per cent every year till 2030 to keep the 1.5 degrees limit alive. “The truth is… we already face incursions into 1.5-degree territory,” said Guterres.
New data released by leading climate scientists on June 5 had shown that the remaining carbon budget to limit long-term warming to 1.5 °C was now around 200 billion tonnes.
“That is the maximum amount of carbon dioxide the Earth’s atmosphere can take if we are to have a fighting chance of staying within the limit,” the UN chief said.
However, given that the world is spewing out around 40 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, the entire carbon budget will be busted before 2030.
He added that the World Meteorological Organization had reported on June 5 about there being an 80 per cent chance of the global annual average temperature exceeding the 1.5 degrees limit in at least one of the next five years. In 2015, the chance of such a breach was near zero.
“And there’s a fifty-fifty chance that the average temperature for the entire next five-year period will be 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial times,” said Guterres.
He also explained the reasons behind what he termed “the fuss about 1.5 degrees”. The Earth is a mass of complex, connected systems. And every fraction of a degree of global heating counts.
“The difference between 1.5 and two degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities. The difference between minimising climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points,” stated Guterres.
If temperatures rose higher, the Greenland Ice Sheet and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would collapse, causing catastrophic sea level rise. Global tropical coral reef systems would be destroyed, along with the livelihoods of 300 million people.
High temperatures would also lead to collapse of the Labrador Sea Current that would further disrupt weather patterns in Europe. Meanwhile, thawing permafrost would the release devastating levels of methane, one of the most potent heat-trapping gasses.
But the world was spewing emissions so fast that by 2030, a far higher temperature rise would be all but guaranteed.
“The need for action is unprecedented but so is the opportunity – not just to deliver on climate, but on economic prosperity and sustainable development,” said Guterres.
‘Mobilise, act & deliver’
The UN leader said the world still had time to save itself as the 1.5 degrees limit was still just about possible.
Forests, wetlands and oceans that absorbed carbon from the atmosphere, need to be protected to keep the 1.5 degrees target alive. Technologies that slash emissions — renewables — are booming as costs plummet and governments realise the benefits of cleaner air, good jobs, energy security, and increased access to power.
“Economic logic makes the end of the fossil fuel age inevitable. The only questions are: Will that end come in time? And will the transition be just? We must ensure the answer to both questions is: yes,” said Guterres.
He added that urgent action was needed over the next 18 months if the planet’s future was to be secured. This could be done by:
1. Slashing emissions;
2. Protecting people and nature from climate extremes;
3. Boosting climate finance;
4. Clamping down on the fossil fuel industry.
Guterres urged advanced G20 countries — producers of 80 per cent of global emissions — to make huge cuts. He also asked them to show climate solidarity by providing technological and financial support to emerging G20 economies and other developing countries.
“It means the G7 and other OECD countries committing: to end coal by 2030; and to create fossil-fuel free power systems, and reduce oil and gas supply and demand by sixty percent — by 2035,” he said.
Developing countries, on the other hand, should create national climate action plans that double as investment plans, spurring sustainable development, and meeting soaring energy demand with renewables.
The UN chief also put the spotlight on “ramping up protection from the climate chaos of today and tomorrow”.
“Every person on Earth must be protected by an early warning system by 2027. I urge all partners to boost support for the United Nations Early Warnings for All action plan,” he said.
The secretary-general also called for the global financial system to be part of the climate solution. “In short, we need a massive expansion of affordable public and private finance to fuel ambitious new climate plans and deliver clean, affordable energy for all,” he said.
Guterres asked countries to make significant contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund. And ensure that it is open for business by COP29 in Baku later this year.
He also urged nations to come together to secure a strong finance outcome from COP this year — one that builds trust and confidence, catalyses the trillions needed, and generates momentum for Multilateral Development Bank reform.
“By COP29, we need early movers to go from exploring to implementing solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction — to help fund climate action,” said Guterres, adding that climate finance was not a favour but fundamental to a liveable future for all.
Lastly, Guterres made an all-out attack on the fossil fuel industry, “who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress — over decades”.
He called on leaders in the fossil fuel industry to understand that if they were not in the fast lane to clean energy transformation, they were driving their business into a dead end — and taking everyone else with them.
“So, to fossil fuel executives, I say: your massive profits give you the chance to lead the energy transition. Don’t miss it,” said the top-ranking diplomat.
Guterres urged financial institutions to stop bankrolling fossil fuel destruction and start investing in a global renewables revolution.
He also called on advertising and PR firms to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction: “Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones. Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet — they’re toxic for your brand.”
The UN leader urged every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies and news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising.
Ultimately, said Guterres, it was time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on: “Tomorrow is too late. Now is the time to mobilise, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver. This is our moment of truth.”
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