Guterres: The world has failed to curb global warming and the consequences have become “dire.” Environment and climate

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that humanity has failed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and must change course immediately to avoid catastrophe affecting the planet due to climate change that may spiral out of control.

In an interview ahead of the COP30 climate summit next month, Guterres acknowledged that it is now “inevitable” that humanity will exceed the target set in the Paris Climate Agreement, which will have “devastating consequences” for the world.

He urged world leaders who will meet in the rainforest-rich Brazilian city of Belem – next November – to realize that the longer they delay reducing emissions, the greater the risk of reaching catastrophic “tipping points” in the Amazon, the Arctic and the oceans.

“Let us admit our failure,” Guterres told the British newspaper The Guardian and the Brazilian news organization Somoma. The truth is that we have failed to avoid exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next few years, and this rise has dire consequences, and some of these dire consequences represent turning points, whether in the Amazon, in Greenland, in West Antarctica, or in coral reefs.

Guterres stressed that the priority at the COP 30 is to change course “to ensure that the transgression is as short as possible and less severe to avoid tipping points like the Amazon. We do not want to see the Amazon as sand plains. But this represents a real danger if we do not change our course and if we do not achieve a significant reduction in emissions as quickly as possible.”

The past ten years have been the hottest on Earth since data recording began. Despite growing scientific concern about the rapid rise in global temperatures resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas), the Secretary-General stated that governments’ obligations have not been met.

According to data from the Climate Monitoring Center, less than a third of the world’s countries (62 out of 197) have submitted their climate action plans, known as “nationally determined contributions” under the Paris Agreement. While the United States – under the leadership of President Donald Trump – abandoned this process. The European Union has not yet provided its contribution, and China, the world’s largest emitter, has been accused of non-compliance.

In this context, Guterres stressed that failure to achieve the ambitions of the Nationally Determined Contributions means that the Paris goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius will be violated at least temporarily, saying: “Among the Nationally Determined Contributions submitted so far, it is expected to reduce emissions by 10%, but we will need 60% to stay within the 1.5 degrees Celsius range, so exceeding this goal has become inevitable.”

The Secretary-General emphasized that it may be possible to exceed the target temporarily, and then reduce temperatures in time to return to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, but that would require a change in direction at COP 30 and beyond.

Defending mother nature

He also pointed out that the transition away from fossil fuels is a matter of economic self-interest, because it is clear that the era of fossil fuels is coming to an end, saying: “We are witnessing a revolution in the field of renewable energy, and the transition will inevitably accelerate, and there will be no way that humanity will be able to use all the oil and gas that has already been discovered.”

The Secretary-General called on governments to rebalance representation, so that civil society groups, especially from indigenous communities, have a greater presence and influence than people paid by companies, saying: “We all know what lobbyists want: it is to increase their profits, and the price is paid by humans.”

Guterres stressed that world leaders should learn from indigenous peoples how to achieve balance with nature, saying that “sometimes there is no awareness of the importance of a harmonious relationship with nature, and therefore it is necessary to maintain a permanent educational approach with political leaders, and there is no one better than indigenous communities to carry out this approach.”

The alternative to serious climate action, he said, is total chaos that everyone knows what it means; “It means a small elite of privileged individuals and companies that can always protect themselves, even if disasters spread. Floods will spread, communities will be devastated, but there will always be a group of wealthy people and wealthy companies that can protect themselves in the face of the increasing devastation of the planet.”

Next year will be Guterres’ last year as Secretary-General of the United Nations. In his first exclusive interview with an indigenous journalist, Waja Shibai, a correspondent for Somaoma Shibai and The Guardian, Guterres recalled his nine years in office and said he wished he had focused on climate and nature earlier, even though it is now a priority.

He said: “I will never give up my commitment to climate action, my commitment to biodiversity, my commitment to protecting nature, and my commitment to helping and supporting all the democratic movements that are fighting relentlessly around the world to preserve our most precious asset, which is Mother Nature.”