Cooperate on climate or 'we will be doomed': U.N. chief
09 September, 2020
World powers must pull together and retool their economies for a green future or humanity is "doomed", U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has warned, telling AFP that failure to control the coronavirus pandemic illustrates the threat of disunity.
Prior to the virus struck, 2020 was billed as a pivotal year for the program to dodge the bullet of catastrophic global warming, with high profile summits planned to catch a wave of public alarm over the continuing future of the planet.
The coronavirus crisis may have shunted climate in to the sidelines as nations launched unprecedented shutdowns to try to slow its spread, but Guterres said the necessity for climate action was more urgent than ever.
In a searing assessment of the international response, Guterres said the pandemic should sharpen governments' focus on cutting emissions, urging them to utilize the crisis as a springboard to launch "transformational" policies targeted at weaning societies off fossil fuels.
"I think the failure that was demonstrated in the capability to support the spread of the virus -- by the actual fact that there was insufficient international coordination in the manner the virus was fought -- that failure must make countries recognize that they need to change course," he told AFP.
"They need to act together in relation to the climate threat that is clearly a much bigger threat compared to the risk of the pandemic alone -- it's an existential threat for our world and for our lives."
The U.N. chief said "pollution rather than people" ought to be taxed and needed nations to end fossil fuel subsidies, launch massive investments in renewables and invest in "carbon neutrality" -- net zero emissions -- by 2050.
"We must have several transformational measures with regards to energy, in relation to transportation, in relation to agriculture, with regards to industry, with regards to our own life-style, without which we'd be doomed," he said.
His comments come as the landmark Paris climate deal switches into effect this season in a bid to cap the rise in temperature to "well below" two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
The accord was already on a knife edge before the pandemic, with doubts over commitments from major polluting nations and concerns that it is still far short of what science says is required to avert disastrous climate change.
US President Donald Trump shocked the world in 2017 when he said america -- history's largest emitter -- was withdrawing from the Paris deal. It really is due to leave on November 4, just after the country's presidential election.
The pandemic has further dented hopes that diplomatic pressure could sweep foot-dragging nations into announcing bold climate action plans, as major summits were postponed and nations focused inwards.
Guterres said there was currently no clear sign a USA government recovery policy would align with Paris goals, but he expressed hope that states, businesses and individuals "will compensate for having less political commitment that exists at the present moment".
He said much now rests on the actions of major emitters, China, the U.S., Europe, Russia, India and Japan, in interviews with AFP and other members of Covering Climate Now, a worldwide collaboration of news outlets committed to increased climate coverage.
"We've never been as fragile as we are, we never needed as much humility, unity and solidarity as now," he said, blasting "irrational demonstrations of xenophobia" and the rise of nationalism.
"Either we are united, or we will be doomed," he added, before a largely virtual U.N. General Assembly this month.
Climate change warnings are no more predictions of a distant future.
Earth's average surface temperature has gone up by one degree Celsius because the 19th century, enough to improve the intensity of droughts, heat waves and tropical cyclones.
Burning fossil fuels has been by far the primary driver of rising temperatures, with concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere now at their highest levels in around three million years.
The last five years were the five hottest on record, while ice sheets are melting at a rate that tracks scientists' worst-case scenarios, prefiguring devastating sea level rises.
"The expectations that we have with regards to another five years about storms, about drought and about other dramatic impacts in the living conditions of several people all over the world are absolutely terrible," Guterres said, before a multi-agency climate report on Wednesday.
The US says it really is still possible to attain a safer goal of a 1.5C cap in temperature rise, but to make it happen, global emissions must fall 7.6 percent annually this decade.
While the shutdowns implemented during the pandemic could reduce global emissions by up to eight percent in 2020, scientists have warned that without systemic change in the way the world powers and feeds itself, the drop would be essentially meaningless.
Additionally, there are concerns that massive Covid-19 stimulus packages being devised by governments could give a crutch to polluting industries.
Guterres has urged Japan, India and China to drop their continued reliance on coal.
China -- the world's biggest polluter -- has invested heavily in renewable energy, nonetheless it in addition has reportedly stepped up coal production.
The U.N. head said he was hopeful the EU would make good on its green commitments, after it announced its 750-billion-euro ($885 billion) stimulus plan that aims in part to attain carbon neutrality targets.
He said the pandemic had demonstrated society's capacity to adjust to transformation.
"I don't want to return to a global where biodiversity has been placed into question, to a global where fossil fuels receive more subsidies than renewables, or even to a world where we see inequalities making societies with less and less cohesion and creating instability, creating anger, creating frustration," he added.
"I think we have to have a different world, a different normal and we've an opportunity to do so."
Source: japantoday.com
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