Tuesday, March 22, 2022

  U.N. Chief Warns of 'Catastrophe'
  With Continued Use of Fossil Fuels


Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, said instead of
replacing Russian oil, gas and coal, nations must pivot to clean energy.


By Lisa Friedman
March 21, 2022

WASHINGTON — Countries are "sleepwalking to climate catastrophe" if they
continue to rely on fossil fuels, and nations racing to replace Russian
oil, gas and coal with their own dirty energy are making matters worse,
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres warned on Monday.

The ambitious promises world leaders made last year at a climate summit
in Glasgow were "naïve optimism," Mr. Guterres said. Nations are nowhere
near the goal of limiting the average global temperature rise to 1.5
degrees Celsius by the end of this century. That’s the threshold beyond
which scientists say the likelihood of catastrophic impacts increases
significantly. The planet has already warmed an average of 1.1 degrees
Celsius.

And the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet is continuing
to increase. Global emissions are set to rise by 14 percent in the
2020s, and emissions from coal continue to surge, he said.

Yes, There Has Been Progress on Climate. No, It’s Not Nearly Enough.
Nations have started making progress on climate change. But we’re still
on track for dangerous warming unless those efforts accelerate drastically.




"The 1.5 degree goal is on life support. It is in intensive care," Mr.
Guterres said in remarks delivered to a summit The Economist is hosting
on sustainability via video address.

"We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe," he said. "If we continue
with more of the same, we can kiss 1.5 goodbye. Even 2 degrees may be
out of reach. And that would be catastrophe."

Mr. Guterres’s speech comes as the European Union is trying to find ways
to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas, and countries like the United
States are scrambling to increase fossil fuel production to stabilize energy
markets. President Biden and European leaders have said that the short-term
needs will not upend their longer-term vision of shifting to wind, solar and
other renewable sources that do not produce dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.

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But the U.N. secretary general said he fears that strategy endangers the
goal of rapid reduction of fossil fuel burning. Keeping the planet at
safe levels means slashing emissions worldwide 45 percent by 2050,
scientists have said.

In Glasgow in November world leaders promised to stave off climate
change and, for the first time, planned to "phase down" coal — the
dirtiest fossil fuel. Leaders from 100 countries also pledged to stop
deforestation by 2030, a
move considered vital since trees absorb carbon dioxide. The United
States, Europe and about 100 other nations also said they would cut
methane emissions 30 percent by 2030,
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas produced from oil and gas operations.