United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has called for urgent and immediate action to address global problems, including climate change during the opening session of its general assembly in New York.
“This must be “a year of game-changing climate action” on climate, pollution and water, Guterres was quoted as saying during a speech on his 2023 priorities. “We must end the merciless, relentless and senseless war on nature. It is putting our world at immediate risk of hurtling past the 1.5-degree temperature increase limit and now still moving toward a deadly 2.8 degrees,”.
Speaking further, he said, “meanwhile, humanity is taking a sledgehammer to our world’s rich biodiversity — with brutal and even irreversible consequences for people and the planet,” he said. “Our ocean is choked by pollution, plastic and chemicals and vampiric overconsumption is draining the lifeblood of our planet — water.”
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“We need disruption to end the destruction,” he added. “No more baby steps.” “In truth, the doomsday clock is a global alarm clock,” he said. “We need to wake up and get to work.”.
Guterres also used the opportunity to invite government, business and civil society leaders across the world to a September climate summit with one condition: “Show us accelerated action in this decade and renewed ambitious net zero plans – or please don’t show up.”
Story was adapted from USA Today.
