Tuesday, September 11, 2018

UN Chief's doom and gloom

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that if the world doesn't change course by 2020, we run the risk of runaway climate change. Guterres said he was alarmed by the paralysis of world leaders on what he called the "defining issue" of our time. Despite the fact that the world agreed on a plan to tackle climate change in Paris in 2015, Guterres said the world is way off track to achieve the modest goals of the pact. "We are careering towards the edge of the abyss," Guterres said. "Our fate is in our own hands."
Guterres painted a grim picture of the impacts of climate change that he says have been felt all over the world this year, with heatwaves, wildfires, storms and floods leaving a trail of destruction. Corals are dying, he said, the oceans are becoming more acidic, and there are growing conflicts over dwindling resources. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are at their highest level in three million years.
Despite the dire situation, the world could still tackle climate change effectively, he said. Saying it was too expensive to do so was "hogwash". The world has the tools, and the ability. Renewables are cost-competitive with coal and oil, he said. By 2030, wind and solar could power more than a third of Europe. But the lack of decisive political leadership was hampering everything, he said. UN negotiators met in Bangkok last week to try and push the process forward. But arguments between rich and poor nations over money have seen tempers rise and ambition decline. Delegates will meet again in Katowice in Poland in December to try to finalise the rule book for the Paris pact, but the omens are not good.
Guterres warned that "we cannot allow Katowice to remind us of Copenhagen," referencing the infamous failed meeting in the Danish capital in 2009.


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