António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has put fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal), the main culprits behind greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, at the heart of the climate crisis. And he has called on every country in the world to tax the windfall profits that fossil fuel companies are making from the current surge in energy prices. “Let’s redirect money to people struggling with soaring food and energy prices and to countries suffering loss and damage from the climate crisis,” the UN chief said at the start of the climate summit to be celebrated in Sharm, Egypt Sheikh, the so-called COP27.
A prominent place at this summit will be the issue of loss and damage, the severe economic impact of current and future warming, such as extreme weather events or the islands that will disappear with sea level rise. And Guterres has made it clear that “getting concrete results on casualties and damage is a litmus test of governments’ commitment to the success of COP27”. The nations most at risk are those that are exerting the greatest pressure for this summit to lay the groundwork for the establishment of a funded reparation mechanism or fund. The UN Secretary-General calls for “a clear timetable with precise deadlines”.
For Guterres it is a “moral imperative” to deal with this issue, a question of “climate justice”. “Those who have contributed the least to the climate crisis are reaping the whirlwind that others have sown,” he said, referring to the most vulnerable countries that also emit the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita into the atmosphere.
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Guterres delivered the speech during the opening of the COP27 high-level event, which will be attended by more than a hundred leaders from around the world. This law is the starting signal for the two-week discussions that will be held by the representatives of the almost 200 countries involved in the UN climate negotiations. Key EU leaders are attending the opening – including Pedro Sánchez – and while he will not be present at the inauguration, Joe Biden, President of the United States, will also attend the Sharm el Sheikh summit later in the week. However, the leaders of China, India and Russia will not attend in person. This does not mean that these countries will not attend the summit, as their ministers and delegates will take part in the negotiations.
When you talk about loss and damage, you are talking about what is and will be inevitable due to climate change. But the future is not yet fully written. Guterres recalled that the planet is “rapidly approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible.” “We’re on a highway to climatic hell with our foot on the accelerator,” he added. But the “point of no return” cannot yet be overcome. To do this, global emissions must take a radical turn and urgently need to start falling. “To avoid this terrible fate, all G-20 countries must accelerate their transition now, in this decade,” Guterres said. The members of the G-20 – including the industrialized nations such as the USA and the members of the European Union, but also other countries that are considered emerging economies such as China, India or Brazil – are responsible for around 80% of global emissions. For this reason, it is imperative that they step up their commitments to reduce greenhouse gases.
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The EU and the US have presented plans to reduce their emissions by 2030. But big emerging economies like China and India are postponing big cuts beyond this decade. Guterres has chosen to implement “measures to restore trust, especially between the North and the South” that will make it possible to reverse this situation.
A pact between north and south
The highest representative of the UN has called for a “historic pact between industrialized and emerging countries”, a “climate solidarity pact”. An agreement in which all countries “to make additional efforts to reduce emissions this decade” to ensure that the temperature at the end of the century does not exceed a 1.5 degree increase in average temperature compared to industrial levels (in this At the moment we are at 1.1 degrees). And a pact “in which the richest countries and international financial institutions provide financial and technical assistance to help emerging economies accelerate their own transition to renewable energy.”
The Secretary-General has called for an end to “dependence on fossil fuels and the construction of coal-fired power plants”. It must, he reminded, “phase out coal by 2030 in OECD countries and by 2040 everywhere else”. He specifically quoted the United States and China, which he said have “a special responsibility to join forces to make this pact a reality.” “This is our only hope of achieving our climate goals,” he said.
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Guterres recalled that despite climate talks like the one now taking place in Egypt, “greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise” and “global temperatures continue to rise”. That’s why he considered it “unacceptable, outrageous and counterproductive” in the face of conflicts such as the war in Ukraine to leave the climate crisis in the background. “Indeed, many of today’s conflicts are linked to growing climate chaos. The war in Ukraine has exposed the profound risks of our dependence on fossil fuels,” said the UN Secretary-General.
In his opinion, climate change is “the defining issue of our time”, so “today’s acute crises cannot be an excuse for regression or greenwashing.” [el lavado verde de cara]“. “If anything, they are a cause for greater urgency, stronger action and effective accountability,” Guterres added.
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