All-out war on fossil fuels. Without contemplations. Half measures are no longer useful to cut greenhouse gas emissions. We must accelerate and, furthermore, increase aid to developing countries, which are the least polluting and suffer the most from the consequences, for adaptation to clean energy.
This was highlighted this Wednesday by the Portuguese António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, at the opening of the Climate Ambition Summit, which is being held parallel to the UN Assembly. “If nothing changes, we are going straight to a 2.8 degree increase in temperatures, towards a dangerous and unstable world,” he said. “Humanity has opened the gates of hell,” he proclaimed.
“We must make up for time lost due to delays, arm-twisting and the overt greed of entrenched interests that rake in billions of dollars from fossil fuels,” he denounced. “It is time to turn plans into action,” she stressed. "The future of humanity is in your hands. One summit will not change the world, but this is a very powerful moment," she said.
For two days, this event brings together a heterodox cocktail of personalities, such as government representatives (for example, Pedro Sánchez, acting president of Spain, among others), executives of big business and finance, scientists or activists. Even William, Prince of Wales, has gotten down to work and is one of the many participants in a record-breaking event, according to official data.
The call was preceded by a weekend of action in the streets, with massive protests like the one that occurred last Sunday in New York under the generic slogan “march to end fossil fuels.”
“This is the beginning of an impressive pressure cooker of which we are all part,” said Jean Su, one of the organizers of the demonstrations and director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “This goes from top to bottom, from the head of the United Nations to more than 400 protest actions around the world,” she added in statements to the AP.
Despite the American president's commitments to “decarbonize,” many like Su criticize him for making promises that he then does not firmly execute. Last Sunday it was demanded that he declare a climate emergency and ban all oil exploitation.
Guterres has been raising the red alarm signal for some time. Some call it exaggerated. The facts prove him right. As he recalled in his speech, the high temperatures are already causing terrible effects, anguished farmers watch as their crops are washed away by floods, the suffocating heat generates diseases, thousands of people flee for fear of being devastated in tremendous fires. “Climate action is dwarfed by the scale of the challenges,” he noted.
“We can still limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees and build a world with clear air, green jobs and clean energy for all. We know the way,” he said, pointing to activists, to indigenous people, to CEOs transforming their companies, to mayors trying to reduce carbon emissions to zero, to governments that have committed and fight to protect the most vulnerable.
“But they need help, they need global leaders to take action and their actions to reduce emissions. The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies is occurring, but we are decades behind,” he insisted.
His proposal for a climate solidarity pact is a call to the main emitters, who are the ones that have benefited the most from fossil fuels, to make an extra effort to cut emissions and for these rich countries to support the less favored ones. “Governments must act with more force,” he reiterated.
Its route establishes that developed countries reach zero emissions in 2040, while for emerging economies it places that ceiling as close as possible to 2050.
He also urged the establishment of a fair and equitable energy transition. Setting these objectives also means ending company subsidies for polluting fuel companies, which according to the International Monetary Fund reached the “incredible sum” of seven trillion dollars in 2022.
Their agenda incorporates a call for climate justice. “Many of the poor nations have every right to be angry, because they are the ones that suffer the most from the climate crisis and have done nothing to create it, because the promises of financial aid do not materialize and because the prices of loans are increasingly more expensive,” he denounced.
“We have to rebuild trust. Governments must move towards a financial system that pays for climate action and this means putting a price on carbon,” she stressed. “Developed countries must accept the commitment of 100 billion to nourish the climate fund.
The secretary general explained that this proposal is a call to businesses and financial institutions to get involved in a true zero emissions path. “Some companies have tried to delay, distract and deceive this transition path using wealth and influence,” he lamented.
