Climate crisis has ‘opened the gates to hell’: UN chief

Antonio Guterres speaks at summit where leading polluters China and the US were conspicuously absent.

Antonio Guterres billed the Climate Ambition Summit as a ‘no-nonsense’ forum. Picture: AFP

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres overnight on Wednesday told world leaders the climate crisis had “opened the gates to hell” during a summit where leading polluters China and the US were conspicuously absent.

The talks were partly overshadowed by an announcement from Britain – also not present – that it was rolling back policies that would help it achieve its net-zero goal.

Despite increasing extreme weather events and record-shattering global temperatures, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and fossil fuels remain subsidised to the tune of $US7 trillion ($10.9 trillion) annually.

Mr Guterres had billed the Climate Ambition Summit as a “no-nonsense” forum, making clear that only leaders who had made concrete plans to achieve net-zero greenhouse emissions would be invited.

In his opening address, he evoked 2023’s “horrendous heat” and “historic fires” but stressed: “We can still limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees,” referring to the target seen as needed to avoid long-term climate catastrophe.

“Humanity has opened the gates to hell,” he warned.

After receiving more than 100 applications to take part, the UN released a list of 41 speakers which did not include China, the US, the UK, Japan or India. Several major leaders didn’t bother making the trip to New York for this year’s UN General Assembly, including President Xi Jinping of China and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Mr Sunak also chose on Wednesday to announce he was adopting a more “pragmatic” approach to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, including pushing back a ban on the sale of cars fully run on fossil fuels and easing energy efficiency targets for rental properties.

US President Joe Biden, who addressed the General Assembly on Tuesday, sent his climate envoy John Kerry to the meeting – although Mr Kerry wasn’t permitted to speak in the high-level segment.

Catherine Abreu, executive director of non-profit Destination Zero, said it was “perhaps a good-news story that we see Biden not being given a speaking slot at the summit” because the US is aggressively expanding fossil fuel projects even as it makes historic investments in renewables.

Anger is building among climate activists, particularly younger people, who turned out in tens of thousands last weekend for the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York.

There were some bright spots, however. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz touted his country’s €2bn ($3.3bn) commitment to a fund that finances climate action in developing countries, while Brazil said it would reach zero deforestation of the Amazon by 2030 – a reversal from the policies of previous president Jair Bolsonaro.

“The small steps countries offered are welcome, but they’re like trying to put out an inferno with a leaking hose,” said David Waskow of the World Resources Institute, adding: “Far too many key players didn’t touch the accelerator.”

The issue of money has long plagued climate action. Advanced economies, responsible for the lion’s share of historic emissions, vowed in 2009 to channel $US100bn annually to less developed countries by 2020 – a promise that remains unfulfilled.

AFP