Antonio Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, has warned that the world is heading quickly towards an ecological catastrophe and has called for an agreement between the world’s richest and poorest nations to hasten the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
On Monday, November 7, Gutteres gave a speech to the nations gathering at the opening of the COP27 session in Egypt. He stated that they had to choose between cooperating now to reduce emissions or condemning future generations to a climate catastrophe.
In spite of current global concerns including Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, escalating consumer inflation, and energy shortages, the speech was intended to establish an urgent tone as nations gather for two weeks of discussions on how to avert the worst effects of climate change.
We?re on a highway to climate hell, U.N. chief Guterres warns
“Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish,” Guterres told delegates gathered in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
“The two largest economies – the United States and China – have a particular responsibility to join efforts to make this pact a reality,” he said.
One of the most carbon-intensive fuels, coal, must be phased out of usage by 2040, according to Guterres, with members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reaching that goal by 2030.
“Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” he said. “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”
“It is either a Climate Solidarity Pact – or a Collective Suicide Pact,” Gutteres concluded.