In his opening remarks at a virtual climate summit on Saturday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged world leaders to declare a climate emergency in their countries to encourage action to avoid devastating global warming.
—
What is Happening?
- Five years after the ratification of the Paris Agreement, more than 70 world leaders gathered virtually to encourage countries to implement stricter measures on global warming emissions.
- Guterres said, “Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency? That is why today, I call on all leaders around the world to declare a State of Climate Emergency in their countries until carbon neutrality is reached.”
- Guterres added that current commitments across the world are “far from enough” to limit temperature rises.
You might also like: Humanity is ‘Waging War’ on Nature- UN Secretary General
End Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Guterres said that “so far, the members of the G20 are spending 50% more in their stimulus and rescue packages on sectors linked to fossil fuel production and consumption, than on low-carbon energy.”
“This is unacceptable,” he said. “The trillions of dollars needed for COVID recovery is money that we are borrowing from future generations. “We cannot use these resources to lock in policies that burden future generations with a mountain of debt on a broken planet,” he added.
- China and India both pledged to advance their commitments to lower carbon pollution at the summit.
- China will boost its installed capacity of wind and solar power to more than 1 200 gigawatts over the next decade. Non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption will also be increased to around 25% during the same period.
- India is ramping up its use of clean energy sources and says that it is on target to achieve the emissions norms set under the Paris Agreement. It is planning to increase renewable energy capacity to 450 gigawatts by 2030.
You might also like: New Zealand Declares a Climate Change Emergency
Featured image by: Ecowatch.com
