New York / TEH: The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres , warned that “the world is moving at an appalling speed towards climate catastrophe”, considering the promises of some leaders and businessmen “false .”
This came in a video message from the UN official, on the occasion of the release of the third report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on Monday.
The first report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was published in August 2021, while its second report was published in late February 2022.
The third report, published on Monday, deals with possible pathways to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
In his message, the Secretary-General said, “We are moving at an appalling speed towards a climate catastrophe…major cities will be submerged…unprecedented heatwaves…terrifying storms…a water shortage…the extinction of a million species of plants and animals.”
He stressed that “a scene like this is neither a fantasy nor an exaggeration…it is the reality that science tells us will be achieved as a result of our current energy policies.”
And he added, “We are on our way to global warming that exceeds twice the limit agreed in the Paris Agreement, which is 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
The Paris Climate Agreement is the first comprehensive international agreement on climate protection, reached on December 12, 2015 in the French capital during the 21st Conference of the Parties.
Guterres stressed that “the words of some government and business leaders (without naming them) point in one direction, while their actions point in another. They are simply lying… and the consequences will be catastrophic… We are in a climate emergency.”
“The science is clear… In order to be able to maintain the hope of achieving the goal of limiting warming to a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must reduce global emissions by 45 percent during this decade,” he added.
He warned that “investment in new infrastructure for fossil fuels is an act of moral and economic insanity.”
The Secretary-General explained that the report issued on Monday “identifies viable options such as accelerating the pace of the transition to renewable energy sources, and calling for an end to all forms of subsidies provided to the fossil fuel sector.”
“It is time to stop burning our planet and start investing in renewable energy that is abundantly available around us,” Guterres concluded.
