UN chief says humanity facing ‘collective suicide’ due to climate crisis
July 19, 2022
- António Guterres addresses ministers from 40 countries.
- Chances for Cop27 UN climate summit to happen this year dimmed.
- He says World Bank and others not good enough when it comes to funding for climate crisis.
UN secretary-general has warned that humanity was facing "collective suicide" with catastrophes like wildfires and heatwaves, reported The Guardian.
António Guterres, while addressing ministers from 40 countries, said that half the humanity was in danger from the impacts of climate change. He said that even though no nation was immune to effects like floods, storms, and droughts, people "continue to feed their fossil fuel addiction.”
"We have a choice," he said, adding that the world had to choose between "collective action and collective suicide."
Broken records of extreme heat have been causing wildfires in Europe and North America. Heatwaves in South Asia and droughts in Africa have surprised scientists.
Warnings of extreme heat have been issued in the UK, France, and other countries.
Petersberg Climate Dialogue which is called by the German government every year will be held where the climate crisis will be discussed.
Chances for the Cop27 UN climate summit to happen this year have dimmed. Fuel prices have occupied governments in a cost-of-living crisis after COVID-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Last year in Glasgow, at Cop26, countries had promised to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. This year, they are supposed to come up with nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which are improved plans for greenhouse gas emissions.
The vice president of the European Commission who leads the EU bloc at the UN climate talks said that he did not see "many new NDCs" coming up.
The president of Cop27 is Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry.
Guterres also arraigned World Bank and other “multilateral development banks”. He said they were not good enough when it came to funding for the climate crisis.
