At the opening of a summit to combat global warming, Antonio Guterres spoke of the “terrible heat” and “historic fires” of the current year.
The UN Secretary-General warned on Wednesday September 20 that humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels has “opened the gates of hell” and launched a summit in New York to combat global warming. Antonio Guterres referred to this year’s “terrible heat” and “historic fires” fueled by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, but stressed that it is not too late to “prevent global temperatures from rising to 1.5°C to limit”.
“The future is not written: it is up to you, the leaders, to write it,” he warned. “We can still build a world with clean air, green jobs and clean, affordable energy for all,” he added. Despite the increase and intensification of extreme weather events, greenhouse gas emissions responsible for warming continue to rise and the fossil fuel sector is making record profits.
Antonio Guterres therefore convened this “common sense” summit, where the invited heads of state and government must announce concrete measures to fulfill their commitments made under the 2015 Paris Agreement. But the price of admission is high. The Secretary General made it very clear: only the most ambitious, especially with regard to the goals of carbon neutrality, have the right to speak out.
The US and China are largely absent
“There will be no room for retreats, greenwashing, evasion of responsibilities or repackaging of announcements from previous years,” he warned when announcing this meeting at the end of December 2022. On Tuesday evening, the UN finally published the list of the lucky ones. And there are some notable absentees, notably the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases: the United States and China.
The United Kingdom is also not included in the program. His prime minister, Rishi Sunak, hinted on Tuesday that he could return to the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The European Union, on the other hand, is invited to present its climate policy, as are Brazil, Canada and South Africa. Just like France, whose President Emmanuel Macron is not in New York.