Sharm el-Sheikh At the world climate conference in Egypt, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, warned in grim words about the consequences of global warming. “We are on the road to climate hell – with our foot on the gas,” Guterres said Monday in a speech to dozens of leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh. “We are fighting the fight of our lives – and we are about to lose,” he warned, referring to the droughts, floods, storms and sea level rise caused by the climate crisis.
The goal agreed at the 2015 World Climate Conference in Paris of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times is in grave danger. The Portuguese called for a “climate solidarity pact” that rich countries will now have to conclude with emerging and developing countries. The United States and China are particularly responsible for this. Literally he said, “Humanity has a choice: work together or perish!”
Guterres supported poor countries’ demands for compensation payments from industrialized countries for the climate damage they had already suffered – called “losses and damage” in UN parlance. This matter can no longer be swept under the rug.
Dozens of heads of state and government gathered at the world climate conference in Egypt to discuss next steps in the fight against the climate crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and UAE President Mohammed bin Sajid, among others, arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday. After a group photo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi opened the summit segment of the two-week conference with a speech.
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“There are great expectations of good results,” said Al-Sisi. “Millions of people around the planet are watching us.” The consequences of climate-related weather events have never been as devastating as they are today. “We have seen one catastrophe after another. As soon as we deal with one catastrophe, another arises – wave after wave.” The earth turned into a “world of suffering,” Al-Sisi said.
The Egyptian president, who works closely with Russia in the military and energy fields, among other things, called for an end to the “war between Russia and Ukraine”. The war must stop, Al-Sisi said – without directly blaming Russia for the attack.
Speeches by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are expected on Monday and Tuesday. US President Joe Biden wants to attend the UN conference on Friday.
45,000 expected participants
Parallel talks are also planned on Monday and Tuesday, the so-called round tables, on topics such as water and food security or green hydrogen. A total of around 110 heads of state and government are expected.
>> Read here: Is it still worth fighting climate change?
About 45,000 participants are registered for the conference, most of them as state delegates. In Sharm el-Sheikh, on the Red Sea, representatives from nearly 200 countries will spend two weeks discussing how the fight against global warming can be stepped up. The new president of COP27, Samih Schukri, warned that all climate protection measures must be taken on a common basis.
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