Search
Close this search box.

UN Chief Urges Rapid Emission Cuts to Curb Climate Change

UN Chief Urges Rapid Emission Cuts to Curb Climate Change

Geneva, The Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Antonio Guterres today called for “immediate, rapid and large-scale” cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming and avert climate disaster.

Ahead of the annual UN General Assembly meeting next week, Guterres warned governments that climate change is proceeding faster than predicted and fossil fuel emissions have already bounced back from a pandemic dip.

Speaking at the launch of a U.N.-backed report summarizing current efforts to tackle climate change, Guterres said recent extreme weather, from Hurricane Ida in the United States to floods in western Europe and the deadly heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, showed no country is safe from climate-related disasters.

“These changes are just the beginning of worse to come,” he said, appealing to governments to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

“Unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we will be unable to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit),” said Guterres. “The consequences will be catastrophic.”

Guterres urged governments to put forward more ambitious plans for cutting emissions by the upcoming UN climate summit in Glasgow, including a commitment to stop adding more greenhouse gas to the atmosphere by mid-century than can be removed, the Associated Press (AP) news reported.

Source: Oman News Agency