United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made statements regarding the climate crisis, one of the biggest problems the world is facing. Guterres said that “the empty promises made are a shame that drags people into an unlivable world,” after the report that the current policy to combat climate change could not meet the target of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
The latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) revealed that it will not be possible to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced urgently and sharply.
“NOT FICTION OR EXTRACTION”
In his statement after the announcement of the report, UN Secretary General Guterres reacted to the current climate policies of governments with the expression “empty promises dragging humanity into an unlivable world”.
Guterres, who warned that there is a rapid progress towards climate disaster, stated that this is not “fiction or exaggeration” and that the climate crisis is caused by current energy policies, as science has revealed.
“Some government and business leaders have different words and different actions,” Guterres said. In short, they are lying and the consequences will be disastrous.
Stating that the governments and companies that emit the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere not only ignore the climate crisis, but also fuel the fire, Guterres said, “They are suffocating our planet for their historical investments and interests in fossil fuels.”
Stating that current climate commitments mean a 14 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions, Guterres said, “Climate activists are sometimes portrayed as dangerous radicals, but really dangerous radicals are countries that increase fossil fuel production.”
Pointing out that making new investments in fossil fuels is a moral and economic madness, Guterres called for the transition to renewable energy to be accelerated three times.
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, global carbon emissions must be reduced by 55 percent by 2030 and reduced to zero by 2050 in order to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.