COP27: Guterres warns – ‘We are on a highway to climate hell’

“We are on a highway to climate hell and we have our foot on the gas,” warned United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, addressing countries participating in the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, stressing that their choice is clear. : to work together now to reduce gas emissions or condemn future generations to a climate disaster.

Antonio Guterres described the seriousness of the situation when he told representatives of the countries gathered in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh. : “Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish.”

At the same time, he called for an agreement between the richest and poorest countries to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels and (accelerate) the financing needed to ensure that poorer countries can reduce emissions and cope with the inevitable effects of overheating that has already taken place.

“The two major economies — the U.S. and China — have a special responsibility to join efforts to make this deal a reality,” he said.

Guterres called on countries to agree to phase out the use of coal globally by 2040 with members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to achieve this goal by 2030.

Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Global temperatures are rising. And our planet is fast approaching critical points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” said Guterres.

Signatories to the 2015 Paris climate agreement pledged to achieve the long-term goal of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists have set this as a ceiling to avoid catastrophic climate change. To keep any hope of achieving this goal alive, zero emissions must be achieved by 2050.

“Either there will be a Climate Solidarity Agreement or a Collective Self-Defense Agreement,” Guterres commented.

Lagarde: “The green transition of economies will help curb energy prices”

For her part, the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, requested her accelerating the green transition of economies as a contribution to curbing energy prices, in its message to COP27.

Investing in renewables instead of polluting fossil fuels “would make our economy not only greener, but also more self-sufficient” but “would also limit the risk of energy prices flaring up,” writes Catherine Lagarde on the website of the ECB.

The UN Climate Conference, COP27, is being held from November 6 to 18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at a time when many crises are shaking the world: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, runaway inflation, the threat of recession, the energy crisis, food crisis…

“The green transition has never been more important,” writes Christine Lagarde in her message, noting that “the spike in energy prices has highlighted how dependent we are on fossil fuels and how vulnerable this makes us.”

At the end of October, the International Energy Agency highlighted the increase in investment in sustainable energy sources caused by the “deep reorientation” of global markets due to increased gas and oil prices due to the war in Ukraine.

The tools are not lacking for the green transition of economies, according to the president of the ECB, who refers to the pricing of the negative effects of carbon, abundant investments in green technologies and climate adaptation, finally transparency about the costs associated with the climate and stages towards the green transition.

With better knowledge of the stakes and the processes, “citizens and businesses will realize that changing their behaviors and practices is not only good for the planet, but also makes economic sense,” sums up Christine Lagarde.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to put pressure on the US and China to do everything they could to help poor countries deal with the consequences of climate change.

“We will have to make the US and China really keep the appointment” in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and economic solidarity, the French leader noted in an exchange of views held in Sharm el-Sheikh. where the UN summit is being held, with young African and French climate activists.

According to the French president, France and Europe are well on their way to reducing the emissions of gases that cause climate change. However, the large emerging countries should “get away from carbon very quickly”, he noted.

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