The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) “is a code
red for humanity”, UN secretary-general António Guterres said.
“The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions
from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of
people at immediate risk,” Guterres said in response to the report issued on Monday.
“Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming
irreversible.”
“Today’s IPCC Working Group 1 Report is a ‘code red’ for humanity,” Guterres added.
“We are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5 degrees in the near term. The only way to prevent
exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts and pursuing the most
ambitious path. We must act decisively now to keep 1.5 alive,” he added.
He noted that the world was already at 1.2 degrees and rising while warming has
accelerated in recent decades.
World leaders will meet at the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November,
in what described as the most important meeting on the crisis since the 2015 Paris summit.
Guterres insisted. “We owe this to the entire human family, especially the poorest and most
vulnerable communities and nations that are the hardest hit despite being least responsible
for today’s climate emergency.”
Johnson: Action Is Needed
British PM Boris Johnson said the report should serve as “a wake-up call” for world leaders
as they prepare to gather in Scotland for the next summit on the climate crisis later this year.
“Today’s report makes for sobering reading, and it is clear that the next decade is going to
be pivotal to securing the future of our planet,” Johnson said in a statement.
“We know what we should do to limit global warming – consign coal to history and shift to
clean energy sources, protect nature and provide climate finance for countries on the front line.”
