Annual meeting gets off to a sombre start while Antonio Guterres urges nations to step up climate ambitions
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City on September 21 2021. Picture: REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ
Speaking a day after convening world leaders to ratchet up climate commitments, Guterres said on Tuesday that the “climate alarm bells” are “ringing at fever pitch”. Calling current global efforts insufficient, he forecast a “hellscape of temperature rises” if emissions are not cut more than currently planned.
There were also hints of optimism on the climate front. Speaking on the sidelines of an event on the subject at the UN on Monday, US climate envoy John Kerry expressed confidence that world leaders will meet a target of raising $100bn in climate aid to developing nations before the UK hosts two weeks of climate talks, known as COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31.
Guterres also decried the global vaccine inequity that has left rich countries with surplus doses and considering booster shots even as developing nations have barely started vaccinating their populations. “Perhaps one image tells the tale of our times,” he said. “The picture we have seen from some parts of the world of Covid-19 vaccines in the garbage, expired and unused. It is an obscenity.”
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