World is addicted to fossil fuels, says UN Secretary-General

The UN Secretary-General used his opening speech at the UN General Assembly to directly criticize the fossil fuel industry such as oil, coal and gas.

“The world is addicted to fossil fuels. It’s time for an intervention,” said António Guterres this Tuesday morning (20) at the United Nations headquarters in New York, for an audience of heads of state from around the world.

“We need to hold fossil fuel companies and their enablers accountable,” Guterres pointed out. Also in his speech, he urges developed economies to tax windfall profits from fossil fuel companies.

“These funds must be redirected in two ways: to countries suffering loss and damage from the climate crisis; and to people struggling with rising food and energy prices,” he suggests.

THE Sheet found that the solution advocated by the UN Secretary-General does not deal with financial compensation for damages, but refers to the path indicated by the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, signed in 2015.

Article 8 of the agreement provides a list of what to do to deal with damages
climate change, such as creating early warning systems for extreme events, assessing risk and preparing for more resilient communities.

“We must ensure that all people, communities and nations have access to effective early warning systems within the next five years,” Guterres proposed. Currently, according to the UN, alerts are accessible to 60% of the world’s population.

The proposal, which was already being defended in Guterres’ speeches, could be financed by redirecting resources from the fossil industry, according to his speech on Tuesday, which brings a practical and politically delicate aspect, especially when the war in Ukraine, with the consequent interruption of the Russian gas supply, leads the European Union to invest in fossil energy sources coming from other countries.

“G20 countries emit 80% of all greenhouse gas emissions. But the poorest and most vulnerable – those who have contributed the least to this crisis – are suffering its most brutal impacts,” Guterres said.

Despite the more challenging context for multilateralism — with the emergence of health, energy and food price crises only in the last two years — some signs of energy transition are highlighted in a report released also this Tuesday (20) by the IEA (abbreviation in English for International Energy Agency) with Irena (International Renewable Energy Agency).

Among them is the doubling of global electric vehicle sales in 2021 from the previous year to a new record of 6.6 million; and the projected increase in global renewable electricity generation capacity of 8% in 2022, to the 300 GW mark, capable of supplying approximately 225 million homes.

With the new framework, the cost of generating electricity is expected to fall by at least US$ 55 billion in 2022, says the study, which brings together 25 recommendations on how international cooperation can accelerate the energy transition.

The document was commissioned by 45 countries — jointly responsible for 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At COP26, the UN climate conference that took place last November, the group committed to making clean energy more accessible in all sectors of the economy by 2030.

In addition to strategies to increase investments, incentives and technical cooperation, the report brings a proposal that changes the distribution of energy between countries, with the creation of “new cross-border super-grids to increase low carbon energy trade, improve energy security and increase system flexibility”.

The report will be discussed this Tuesday afternoon by the president of COP26, Alok Sharma, together with ministers from the group of 45 countries in New York, where Climate Week also takes place, bringing together NGOs, social movements and companies from around the world in multiple events. parallels, which seek to increase dialogue and cooperation around the climate agenda.