Four burning issues were addressed during the informal talks: Emissions mitigation, climate finance, adaptation, and loss and damage.
This aerial view of a devastated landscape was taken during Secretary-General António Guterres’ solidarity visit to Pakistan where he witnessed the impact of floods in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. | Photograph courtesy of UN
During a private meeting of heads of state and government last Wednesday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for more action and leadership to tackle the climate crisis, warning that efforts to keep the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is "on life support."
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the UN chief said that he had talked to leaders about the climate emergency, and the "triple global crisis" of food, energy, and finance.
Guterres told the assembled leaders that the devastation he witnessed this month in Pakistan, where flooding covered around a third of the country at its height, occurred with global warming of 1.2 degrees, and that the world is currently on track for an overall increase of more than three degrees.
The meeting was billed in advance as a "frank and informal exchange" of views between leaders, co-chaired by Guterres and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, and an opportunity to address key issues ahead of the COP27 UN Climate Change conference to be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in November.
'Fossil fuels are killing us'
Since last year's conference in Glasgow, Scotland, climate impacts have worsened, and carbon emissions have risen to record levels, hitting vulnerable communities the hardest.
Four burning issues were addressed during the informal talks: Emissions mitigation, climate finance, adaptation, and loss and damage.
On mitigation, Guterres told the leaders that although emissions must be cut almost in half before 2030, they are on track to rise by 14 percent. He called on the representatives of the world's leading economies — the G20 nations — to phase out coal, ramp up investment in renewables, and end their "fossil fuel addiction."
"The fossil fuel industry is killing us," he said, "and leaders are out of step with their people who are crying out for urgent climate action."
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