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Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, opened the COP27 and urged nations to focus on global warming at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In a hard-hitting speech, the UN secretary-general said that the world was on a highway to climate hell “ with its foot on the gas pedal”
Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, opened the COP27 and urged nations to focus on global warming at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In a hard-hitting speech, the UN secretary-general said that the world was on a highway to climate hell “ with its foot on the gas pedal”. Looking at the grave situation ahead, he called upon over 100 world leaders assembled there to focus on the growing urgency of climate change and its hazards.
Mentioning that the issue was central to human existence, the UN secretary general underscored that climate change was on a different timeline and different scale and warned nations that putting climate change on the backburner would be like an inviting disaster.
Though China is the world’s biggest current emitter of greenhouse gases, President Xi Jinping has made it clear that he would not be attending this session of the COP. President Joe Biden will be attending after the midterms. The U.S. is the second biggest current emitter. But it is still not clear what stand he will be taking at the summit. It is relevant to note that China has progressed well in the massive rollout of solar energy and increasing the use of electric vehicles running on clean energy. It is reported that in tapping solar energy, China has a clear edge over the US. The US and China together are responsible for 40% of the world’s gas emissions.
The Paris agreement for addressing climate change ratified by 55 countries including the US and China, sets the aim to limit global temperature increases to two degrees Celsius and desirably at 1.5 degrees. But after nearly seven years since the agreement has been signed, the results on the ground seem to be far from satisfactory. The Russia -Ukraine war also has had its impact on the pathway that has been laid for achieving the objectives.
In the meantime, nearly 100 heads of state and governments called to deepen emissions cuts and financially back developing countries already devastated by the effects of rising temperatures. They also noted that nations worldwide are coping with increasingly intense natural disasters that have taken thousands of lives this year alone and cost billions of dollars. They included devastating floods in Nigeria and Pakistan droughts in the United States and Africa and unprecedented heat waves across three continents.
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Rich nations will also be expected to set a timetable for the delivery of US$100 billion per year to help developing countries green their economies and build resilience against future climate change. The response to this goal seems to be lukewarm. The COP27 will continue until November 18.
