Washington, Apr 22 (FN Bureau) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a stark warning to world leaders joining the climate summit of an impending crisis caused by a buildup of greenhouse gases to the highest level in 3 million years, in a speech to the virtual event hosted by President Joe Biden on Thursday. “We need a green planet – but the world is on red alert,” Guterres said. “The past decade was the hottest on record. Dangerous greenhouse gases are at levels not seen in 3 million years.”
Guterres noted that global temperature has risen 1.2 degrees Celsius and is “racing toward the threshold of catastrophe.” The UN chief called on nations to build a coalition targeting net zero carbon emissions by mid-century, along with immediate action to make the current decade a “decade of transformation.” Guterres also advocated a number of specific policies, including a transition to taxation based on carbon emissions as opposed to income, a global halt in building coal-fired power plants, and the closure of such plants by developed nations by 2030 and developing nations by 2040.
In addition, Guterres urged nations to develop and bring concrete plans to a United Nations-sponsored climate summit in November. Biden opened the summit attended by 40 world leaders on Thursday morning with a commitment to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 emissions by the end of this decade.