Guterres renews zero-emissions appeal to avoid falling into climate abyss

Guterres renews zero-emissions appeal to avoid falling into climate abyss



NEW YORK — All countries should commit to zero carbon emissions by 2050 if the world is to avoid a disastrous 2.4 degree Celsius temperature rise by the end of this century, UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Thursday.

In his keynote speech at a high-level climate gathering in Petersberg, Germany — six months before world leaders convene in Glasgow, Scotland, for the COP26 Climate Summit — the UN chief also offered a message of hope, insisting that it was still possible to avert the worst impacts of emissions-fuelled environmental shocks.

“I see encouraging signs from some major economies,” he said, referring to countries that represent 73 percent of emissions having committed to net zero emissions by mid-century.

All countries — especially in the G20 — need to close the mitigation gap further by COP26, he insisted, highlighting the threat already faced by developing countries, where “people are dying, farms are failing (and) millions face displacement”.

Degrees of hope

“The bottom line is that, by 2030, we must cut global emissions by 45 percent compared to