7 June 2024/
A MOMENT OF TRUTH: SPECIAL ADDRESS ON CLIMATE ACTION BY UN SECRETARY GENERAL AT AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK
“Today is World Environment Day. It is also the day that the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service officially reports May 2024 as the hottest May in recorded history. This marks twelve straight months of the hottest months ever. For the past year, every turn of the calendar has turned up the heat.
Our planet is trying to tell us something. But we don’t seem to be listening,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned the world in his Special address on climate action, “A Moment of Truth” at the historic American Museum of Natural History, New York.
“It’s climate crunch time” when it comes to tackling rising carbon emissions, said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, stressing the need for global action unprecedented.
In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor. We are not only in danger – we are the danger. But we are also the solution
“In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor. We are not only in danger – we are the danger. But we are also the solution. Global emissions need to fall nine per cent every year just to keep the 1.5℃ temperature rise limit above pre-industrial levels alive. Last year they went up by one per cent,” UN chief Antonio Guterres warns of urgent climate risk and calls for immediate action from global leaders to secure a livable future within the immediate 18 months period.
“We are playing Russian roulette with our planet. We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell. And the truth is – we have control of the wheel,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that we stand at a “moment of truth”.
“Is still just about possible, but only if we fight harder. It all depends on decisions taken by political leaders during this decade and especially in the next 18 months,” the UN Chief warns the world.
“The truth is … global emissions need to fall nine per cent every year until 2030 to keep the 1.5 degree limit alive. But they are heading in the wrong direction. Last year they rose by one per cent.
The truth is… we already face incursions into 1.5-degree territory.
The World Meteorological Organisation reports today that there is an eighty per cent chance the global annual average temperature will exceed the 1.5 degree limit in at least one of the next five years,” he said.
A half degree difference in global warming could mean some island States or coastal communities disappearing forever. Greenland Ice Sheet and West Antarctic Ice Sheet could collapse and cause catastrophic sea level rise and the whole coral reef systems could disappear along with 300 million livelihoods – if the 1.5℃ goal is not met, reports UN News.
“Extreme weather from East Asia to the western seaboard of the US has been turbocharged by climate chaos destroying lives, pummelling economies and hammering health,” said the Secretary-General.
Forests and oceans continue absorbing harmful carbon and must be protected. The renewable energy business worldwide is booming as costs plummet and now make up 30 percent of the world’s electricity supply. Meanwhile, clean energy investments reached a record high last year, almost doubling in the past decade, the UN chief warns of urgent climate risk and calls for immediate action from global leaders to secure a livable future within the immediate 18 months period, on World Environment Day at Family Hall of Ocean Life, American Museum of Natural History in New York.
