United Nations, December 3 (Prensa Latina) United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned today during COP28 of the inadequate responses of major oil and gas producers to our planet’s crisis.
“The fossil fuel industry is finally starting to wake up, but the promises made clearly fall short of what is needed,” he said on the fourth day of the climate meeting.
The commitments fall far short of what is needed to meaningfully address the world’s complex context, he added.
Several major companies in the industry pledged on Saturday to reduce methane leaks from their pipelines by 2030, ignoring the central problem: the emissions caused by the consumption of fossil fuels.
According to Guterres, this answer did not provide clarity on the path to achieving net zero by 2050, which he considered “absolutely necessary to ensure integrity”.
“The science is clear: we must phase out fossil fuels within a time frame consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” he stressed.
The United Nations chief stressed his call to maintain one of the key goals of the historic 2015 Paris Agreement.
“There should be no place for greenwashing,” he said, recalling the dangers of promoting misleading marketing and false sustainability claims.
This Sunday, the High Representative also presented a new report prepared by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Meteorological Organization that recognizes the benefits of early warning systems.
The report shows that more lives are being protected from extreme weather and the dangerous effects of climate change, but progress remains insufficient.
To date, 101 countries reported having an early warning system, an increase of six countries compared to last year and a doubling of coverage since 2015.
Ode/ebr