At the climate conference (COP28) organized in Dubai, the progress of the Paris Agreement will be reviewed and the action plan to drastically reduce emissions will be presented.
Guterres will speak at the opening ceremony and at the local climate summit scheduled for December 1.
His program also includes a live meeting with Indian actress Dia Mirza, Sustainable Development Goals advocate and UN Ambassador for the Environment.
On Saturday, the United Nations chief will attend the high-level meeting of landlocked countries and the opening of the high-level event on global climate action.
On the same day, he will launch his initiative for the global deployment of supercharger battery storage and meet with his youth advisory group, a traditional meeting at these events.
A day later, the UN chief will hold a meeting with scientists and young climate leaders and also plan bilateral meetings with the COP28 presidency and several leaders.
Guterres cited as one of the emergencies at the meeting the need to stop fossil fuel extraction, which would cause the planet’s temperature to rise by three degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
“If we continue like this, and I sincerely hope we don’t, the ice sheets of Greenland and West Antarctica will cross a deadly tipping point,” he warned in recent press statements.
This melting, he added, means a staggering rise of about 10 meters above sea level, while the vicious circle means accelerated warming with shrinking ice and more extreme weather conditions.
At COP28 in Dubai, “heads of state and government must break this cycle,” he told the press after his recent visit to Antarctica.
The Portuguese diplomat recalled the need for global leadership to stop global warming.
“Leaders must act to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, protect people from climate chaos and end the age of fossil fuels,” he added.
Only a global pact to triple the use of renewable energy, double energy efficiency and provide access to clean energy for all by 2030 will be enough, he argued.
jf/ebr