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We are digging our own graves with fossil fuel addiction – UN Secretary General
– Either we stop it or it stops us
Kaieteur News – With 2015 to 2021 now deemed to be the seven hottest years on record by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, declared yesterday that the world’s addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink.
Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres
During his remarks at the World Leaders Summit for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, the official said, “We face a stark choice: Either we stop it — or it stops us. It’s time to say: enough; enough of brutalising biodiversity; enough of killing ourselves with carbon; enough of treating nature like a toilet; enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves.”
Addressing world leaders who converged in Scotland for COP26, Guterres said it is clear that the earth is changing before the eyes of all and sundry. Guterres noted in this regard that sea-level rise is double the rate it was 30 years ago, oceans are hotter than ever — and getting warmer faster, and parts of the Amazon Rainforest now emit more carbon than they absorb.
Guterres said recent climate action announcements might give the impression that the world is on track to turn things around. The UN Secretary General stressed however, that this is nothing but a mere illusion. To prove his case, the official stated that the last published report on Nationally Determined Contributions showed that the world is still condemned to a calamitous 2.7 degree increase.
“And even if the recent pledges were clear and credible — and there are serious questions about some of them — we are still careening towards climate catastrophe. Even in the best-case scenario, temperatures will rise well above two degrees. So, as we open this much anticipated climate conference, we are still heading for climate disaster,” expressed the UN Secretary General.
He said all citizens of the earth are aware of this frightening reality. “Young people know it. Every country sees it. Small Island Developing States — and other vulnerable ones — live it. For them, failure is not an option. Failure is a death sentence…,” Guterres noted.
The UN Secretary General said the science of climate change is clear and leaders, the world over, must act now. Towards this end, he said leaders must keep the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius alive while noting that this requires greater ambition on mitigation and immediate concrete action to reduce global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. He was keen to note that G20 countries which include China, Russia, India and the USA, have a particular responsibility in this regard as they represent around 80 per cent of emissions. Outside of this, Guterres stressed that the US$100 billion a year climate finance commitment in support of developing countries must become a US$100 billion climate finance reality.
Overall, Guterres said maximum ambition – from all countries on all fronts – is needed to make COP26 a success.
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