- China, USA have a leading role
- Guterres aims to phase out coal by 2040
- The United Arab Emirates, host of the talks in 2023, says it will continue producing fossil fuels
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT, Nov 7 (Portal) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told countries gathered in Egypt on Monday at the start of the COP27 summit that they face a clear choice: now work together to reduce emissions or condemn future generations to climate catastrophe.
The speech set an urgent tone as governments hold two weeks of talks on how to avert the worst of climate change, even as they are distracted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, rampant consumer inflation and energy shortages.
“Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish,” Guterres told delegates gathered in the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
He called for a pact between the world’s richest and poorest countries to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and finance to ensure poorer countries can reduce emissions and deal with the climate impacts already occurring.
“The two largest economies — the United States and China — have a special responsibility to work together to make this pact a reality,” he said.
Despite decades of climate talks – the COP in Egypt is the 27th Conference of the Parties – progress has been insufficient to save the planet from excessive warming as countries are too slow or reluctant to act, he noted.
“Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Global temperatures continue to rise. And our planet is rapidly approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” he said. “We’re on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”
Former US Vice President Al Gore, who also spoke at the event, said global leaders have a credibility problem when it comes to climate change. He criticized the continued quest by developed nations for gas resources in Africa, which he termed “fossil fuel colonialism”.
“We all have a credibility problem: we talk and start acting, but we’re not doing enough,” Gore said.
[1/7] The President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Jordanian King Abdullah II, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry, Saudi Adel Al-Jubeir, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and other leaders pose for a family photo during the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt , on June 7, 2022. Portal/Mohammed Salem
“We need to see the so-called ‘dash for gas’ for what it really is: a jump over a bridge to nowhere, leaving countries around the world with climate chaos and billions in stranded assets, particularly here in Africa,” he said .
UAE NEXT PUMPS OF OIL, GAS
Immediately after Guterres’ speech, the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahya, took the stage and said his country, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will continue to produce fossil fuels as long as there is a need.
“The UAE is recognized as a responsible energy supplier and will continue to play that role as long as the world needs oil and gas,” he said.
The UAE will host the UN conference next year, which will seek to finalize agreements reached in Britain last year and at this year’s Egyptian talks.
Many oil, gas and coal-rich countries have criticized the push for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, arguing that it is economically reckless and unfair to poorer and less developed nations interested in economic growth.
Signatories to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement pledged to meet the long-term goal of preventing global temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold at which scientists say climate change will spiral out of control might guess.
Guterres said this goal will only stay alive if the world can achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. He called on countries to agree with members of the organization to phase out the use of coal, one of the most carbon-intensive fuels, worldwide by 2040 for economic cooperation and development by 2030.
The head of the International Monetary Fund told Portal on the sidelines of the conference that climate targets were contingent on reaching a global carbon price of at least $75 a tonne by the end of the decade and that the pace of change in the real economy was unchanged “a lot too slow”.
The World Trade Organization, meanwhile, said in a report published on Monday that it should address trade barriers for low-carbon industries to address the role of global trade as a driver of climate change.
Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Adaptation by Barbara Lewis and Frank Jack Daniel
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