UN chief urges focus on ambition, trust at Egypt climate summit
World
A global climate summit starting next week in Egypt.
GENEVA (Reuters) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pushed rich and poor countries on Thursday (Nov 3) "to close the ambition gap, the credibility gap and the solidarity gap" when they come together for a global climate summit starting next week in Egypt.
"It is time for an historic pact between developed and emerging economies," he told reporters. "A pact in which developed countries deliver on the commitment made in Paris and make an additional effort to reduce emissions in line with the 1.5 degree goal."
"And a pact in which wealthier countries provide financial and technical assistance – along with support from Multilateral Development Banks and technology companies – to help emerging economies speed their renewable energy transition," he said.
An international climate summit starting next week in Egypt will test the resolve of nations to combat global warming, even as many of the biggest players are distracted by urgent crises ranging from war in Europe to rampant consumer inflation.
More than 30,000 delegates, including representatives from about 200 countries, will gather from Nov 6 to Nov 18 in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to hash out details on how to slow climate change and help those already feeling its impacts.
But with nations dealing with the fallout of Russia s invasion of Ukraine, along with soaring food and fuel prices and stuttering economic growth, questions loom over whether they will act quickly and ambitiously enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
The chill in relations this year between top greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States does not bode well, experts say.
A United Nations report released last week showed that most countries are lagging on their existing commitments to cut carbon output, with global greenhouse gas emissions on track to rise 10.6 per cent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.
Scientists say that emissions must drop 43 per cent by that time to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures – the threshold above which climate change risks spinning out of control.
Only 24 of the nearly 200 countries attending the COP27 talks have submitted new or updated emissions-cutting plans since last year s UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, even though all had committed to doing so, according to the UN climate agency.
