With time running out to head off the worst damage from climate change, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday of a .dangerous disconnect” between the climate crisis and government inaction.
The UN chief was speaking by video message at a climate conference in Austria on Tuesday, according to CTV News Canada. “We are witnessing a historic and dangerous disconnect: science and citizens are demanding ambitious and transformative climate action,” he said. “Meanwhile many governments are dragging their feet. This inaction has grave consequences.”
Guterres also mentioned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, noting the move had worsened the crisis, because major economies were “doubling down on fossil fuels” that are to blame for much of the emissions stoking global warming.
“New funding for fossil fuel exploration and production infrastructure is delusional,” he said. “It will only further feed the scourge of war, pollution, and climate catastrophe.”
Guterres said global greenhouse gas emissions need to drop by 45 percent this decade, but are currently forecast to increase by 14 percent, and that is crazy, seeing as the amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere broke a record in May.
Guterres urged countries to instead end all coal use by 2040, with rich nations doing so by 2030, and focus on replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind power, reports Spectrum News1.
“Renewables are the peace plan of the 21st century,” he said.
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who initiated the summit, also said the war in Ukraine was another reason to stop using fossil fuels, citing research that showed Europe had paid Russia tens of billions of dollars for energy imports in the first two months of the year.
“No matter how you look at it, we have blood on our hands because we are financing the war,” said Schwarzenegger, reports USNews.
“We must do whatever it takes to eliminate our addiction to fossil fuels,” he added. “We must be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Failure is no option here.”
