UN chief wants worldwide “state of climate emergency”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for a worldwide “state of climate emergency” to tackle global warming.

Five years after the Paris Agreement on climate change, the world is still not going in the right direction, he told the Climate Ambition Summit co-convened by the United Nations and the governments of Britain and France.

The Paris Agreement promised to limit temperature rise to as close to 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible. But the commitments made in Paris were far from enough to get there. And even those commitments are not being met, he noted.

“Carbon dioxide levels are at record highs. Today, we are 1.2 degrees hotter than before the industrial revolution. If we don’t change course, we may be headed for a catastrophic temperature rise of more than 3 degrees this century. Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency?” he asked.

“That is why today I call on all leaders worldwide to declare a state of climate emergency in their countries until carbon neutrality is reached.”

Some 38 countries have already done so, recognizing the urgency and the stakes. All other countries should follow, said Guterres.

The recovery from COVID-19 presents an opportunity to set economies and societies on a green path in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said.

But that is not yet happening. So far, the members of the Group of 20 largest economies in the world are spending 50 percent more in their stimulus and rescue packages on sectors linked to fossil fuel production and consumption, than on low-carbon energy. This is unacceptable, he said.

“The trillions of dollars needed for COVID recovery is money that we are borrowing from future generations. This is a moral test. We cannot use these resources to lock in policies that burden future generations with a mountain of debt on a broken planet.”

To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, meaningful cuts are needed now to reduce global emissions by 45 percent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels, he said.

This must be fully reflected in the revised and strengthened Nationally Determined Contributions that the signatories to the Paris Agreement are obliged to submit well before the UN Climate Change Conference next year in Glasgow, Scotland.

Britain has pledged to cut emissions by 68 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. The European Union has agreed to cut emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990, he noted.

“These decisions deserve to be emulated. Every country, city, financial institution and company needs to adopt plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and start executing them now, including by providing clear short-term targets. Key emitting sectors such as shipping, aviation and industry must also present and implement new, transformational roadmaps in line with this goal,” said Guterres.