The world has reached a “pivotal moment” and must change course in the next two years or risk runaway climate change, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly.
“Climate change is moving faster than we are – and its speed has provoked a sonic boom SOS across our world. According to the World Meteorological Organization, the past two decades included 18 of the warmest years since record-keeping began in 1850. This year, for the first time, thick permanent sea ice north of Greenland began to break up. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the highest in 3 million years – and rising,” Mr. Guterres told assembled heads of state and ministers.
He voiced concern that recent negotiations in Bangkok towards implementation guidelines ended without sufficient progress. The next Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP24, will take place in Poland in December.
“We need greater ambition and a greater sense of urgency. We must guarantee the implementation of the Paris Agreement. It has immense potential to set us on the right course, but its targets — which represent the bare minimum to avoid the worst impacts of climate change — are far from being met,” Mr. Guterres told the General Assembly.
Original source: WMO
Published on 27 September 2018
