‘We’re Out of Time’, Secretary-General Declares at Launch of Environment Programme Emissions Gap Report, Calling for Government to Take Action at Climate Conference
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Virtual Launch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report, today:
The message of today’s Emissions Gap report is clear: We are teetering on a planetary tightrope. Either leaders bridge the emissions gap, or we plunge headlong into climate disaster — with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most.
This report shows annual greenhouse gas emissions at an all-time high – rising 1.3 per cent last year. They must fall 9 per cent each year to 2030 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and avoid the very worst of climate change.
Current policies are taking us towards a catastrophic 3.1°C temperature rise by the end of the century. As this report rightly puts it, people and planet cannot afford more hot air.
The emissions gap is not an abstract notion. There is a direct link between increasing emissions and increasingly frequent and intense climate disasters. Around the world, people are paying a terrible price.
Record emissions mean record sea temperatures supercharging monster hurricanes; record heat is turning forests into tinder boxes and cities into saunas; [and] record rains are resulting in biblical floods.
Today’s report shows affordable, existing technologies can achieve the emissions reductions we need to 2030 and 2035 to meet the 1.5-degree limit. But only with a surge in ambition and support.
The upcoming United Nations climate conference — COP29 — must drive progress in two ways. First, COP29 starts the clock for countries to deliver new national climate action plans — or NDCs — by next year.
Governments have agreed to align these plans with 1.5 degrees. That means they must drive down all greenhouse gas emissions and cover the whole economy — pushing progress in every sector.
And they must wean us off our fossil fuel addiction: showing how Governments will phase them out — fast and fairly; and contributing to global goals to accelerate renewables rollout and halt and reverse deforestation.
The largest economies — the G20 members, responsible for around 80 per cent of all emissions — must lead. I urge first-movers to come forward.
Second, finance will be front and centre at COP29. Developing countries urgently need serious support to accelerate the transition to clean energy and deal with the violent weather they are already facing. COP29 must agree a new finance goal that unlocks the trillions of dollars they need. And provides confidence it will be delivered.
We know the price of climate inaction is far greater. This would require a significant increase in concessional public finance, that can be complemented by innovative sources, such as fossil fuel extraction levies. The COP29 outcome must also send clear signals, to drive action on debt relief and reform of the Multilateral Development Banks to make them bigger and bolder.
Today’s Emissions Gap report is clear: we’re playing with fire; but there can be no more playing for time. We’re out of time. Closing the emissions gap means closing the ambition gap, the implementation gap, and the finance gap. Starting at COP29. Thank you.