UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the ongoing climate conference in Egypt Photo: AFP
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world is now on the highway to climate-hell. News: Al-Jazeera
The UN Secretary General gave this warning to the world leaders participating in the ongoing climate conference (COP-27) in Egypt on Monday.
The conference started last Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh city of Red Sea coastal Egypt. The conference will continue till November 18. About 100 governments and heads of state are participating in the conference.
The conference calls for further reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, financial assistance to developing countries already severely affected by rising temperatures.
Addressing world leaders participating in the conference, the UN Secretary General said yesterday that mankind has two hard choices – to work together in the fight against global warming or ‘collective suicide’.
The world is now on the highway to climate-hell: UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres said, the alternative before mankind is mutual cooperation, or destruction. The UN Secretary-General urged polluting rich nations to come forward to help poor countries least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. He said, either there will be a climate solidarity agreement, or there will be a collective suicide agreement.
Countries around the world are facing increasingly severe natural disasters. Thousands of people have died this year due to various disasters including floods, droughts, and wildfires. Hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, president of Egypt, the host country of the conference, said, “We are seeing one disaster after another. As we deal with one disaster, another appears. Waves of suffering and loss are coming one after the other.’
Egypt’s president says, ‘Isn’t it time to end all this suffering?’ There are fears that climate change will fall off the list of governments’ priorities in the face of other crises. These crises include the Russia-Ukraine conflict, rising inflation, and the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Addressing the world leaders at the conference, the UN Secretary General said that the issue of climate change cannot be kept at a low priority.
The world is now on the highway to climate-hell: UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres has called for a “historic” deal between rich emitters and emerging economies. The agreement would have strong commitments from countries to stop emissions.
If current trends continue, carbon pollution could increase by 10 percent by the end of this decade. The surface temperature may rise up to 2.8 degrees Celsius.
The UN Secretary General said that greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. Global temperature is rising. The planet is fast approaching that critical stage, which will make climate chaos irreversible.
Antonio Guterres said, “We are on the highway to climate hell.” We still have our foot on the accelerator.’
Climate dialogue has been going on for decades. Despite this, the UN Secretary-General noted that the progress made to save the planet from excessive warming is insufficient. The reason, he says, is that countries are moving too slowly or are reluctant to take action.
The world is now on the highway to climate-hell: UN Secretary-General