The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for more concerted efforts from world leaders in tackling climate change.
The 70-year-old made the call as the G20 Summit kicked off on Friday in Osaka, Japan, saying the urgency of addressing climate change was a main priority.
The UN chief noted that the “heat waves in Europe, drought in Africa, storms happening also in Africa and the Caribbean” and a “multiplication” more intense, more frequent natural disasters “with worsening humanitarian consequences,” were pointers that “climate change is running faster than what we are”.
“All the analyses that can be made show the situation, in practical terms, is worse than what we could have forecasted, and the political will has been failing”, he said, calling it “a paradox that needs to be addressed”.
Guterres said he also looked forward to the UN’s Climate Action Summit scheduled for September in New York, where he said he would appeal to world leaders for a stronger commitment for climate action, including by “putting a price on carbon, ending subsidies to fossil fuels, [and] not accepting the idea that we still have an acceleration of the construction of coal power plants”, all of which are “absolutely essential to rescue the planet”.
The G20 Summit is scheduled to end today, with leaders adopting a joint declaration on a host of issues.
Leaders in attendance include Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa among many others.
There have been sideline meetings between various leaders, including President Xi meeting President Trump and President Ramaphosa separately.
