New Delhi (NVI): United Nations Secretary General António Guterres today called upon the world leaders to listen to the voices of million, especially the young people, and address the “climate emergency”.
Addressing the opening ceremony of UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid, Spain, he said, “We need to get on the right path today, not tomorrow. That means important decisions must be made now”.
Expressing concern over the heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reaching a new record high, he said that the effect can be seen in the form of extreme weather events and associated disasters like hurricanes, drought, floods and wildfires.
The two-week summit on climate change, COP25 kicked off in Madrid, Spain today.
“Three major reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – on land, on the oceans and cryosphere, and on the 1.5 degree Celsius climate goal – each confirm that we are knowingly destroying the very support systems keeping us alive,” he said.
Guterres also urged the world for a “deep and rapid change in the way of doing business” and if this way is not changed urgently, the UN Secretary General said “we jeopardize life itself”.
He said to limit global temperature rise to the necessary 1.5 degrees by the end of this century, “we must reduce emissions by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030, and we must achieve climate neutrality by 2050”.
To reduce emissions by 7.6 per cent each year to reach goals, Guterres said that governments not only honour their national contributions under the Paris Agreement, but substantially increase their ambitions.
“And even if the Paris commitments are fully met, it would not be enough. But unfortunately, many countries are not even doing that. And the results are there to be seen,” he added.
Asking the main emitters to do more, he said, “Without the full engagement of the big emitters all our efforts will be completely undermined”.
Urging the main emitters to do more to address climate change, Guterres said that Without the full engagement of the big emitters all the efforts will be completely undermined.
He concluded by saying that, tools, science and resources were available and it was time to show political will ,that people demand. Adding that “To do anything less will be a betrayal of our entire human family and all the generations to come”.
