UN Secretary General urges all countries to declare climate emergency

Governments around the world should all declare a state of climate emergency until the world has reached net-zero CO₂ emissions, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, told a summit of world leaders in December 2020.

At least 38 countries have already declared such a state of emergency, often owing to their vulnerability to the impacts of climate breakdown, which are already being felt. “Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency? I urge all others to follow. The COVID pandemic is an unexpected chance to tackle the climate crisis”, the UN Secretary General declared. “By next month, countries representing more than 65 percent of harmful greenhouse gases and more than 70 percent of the world economy will have committed to achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the century.

At the same time, the main climate indicators are worsening. While the Covid-19 pandemic has temporarily reduced emissions, carbon dioxide levels are still at record highs – and rising. The past decade was the hottest on record; Arctic sea ice in October 2020 was the lowest ever, and apocalyptic fires, floods, droughts and storms are increasingly the new normal. Biodiversity is collapsing, deserts are spreading, oceans are warming and choking with plastic waste.

Science tells us that unless we cut fossil fuel production by 6 percent every year between now and 2030, things will get worse. Instead, the world is on track for a 2 percent annual rise. Pandemic recovery gives us an unexpected yet vital opportunity to attack climate change, fix our global environment, re-engineer economies and reimagine our future. Here is what we must do... ” (See link below).

Compiled by Reinhold Pape

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/12/un-secretary-general...

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/covid-pandemic-climate-crisis-paris...