UN's Guterres urges fast action to avoid breaching 1.5°C climate limit

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world can no longer avoid exceeding the 1.5-degree limit in the climate crisis and called on countries to act quickly to close the emissions gap.

In a video message ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya in November, Guterres spoke about the annual Emissions Gap Report published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Warning that the world can no longer avoid exceeding the 1.5-degree limit and that the consequences are already devastating, he pointed to deadly floods, extreme heatwaves and severe wildfires around the world.

Guterres said the climate crisis is paralysing economies and deepening inequality, and that those least responsible for it are the first and worst hit by its effects. He said global warming could still be brought back below the 1.5-degree limit before the end of the century, which would require cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent by 2030 and 45 percent by 2035. He added: “Emissions are still at record levels. National climate plans and current policies are dangerously inadequate and point to warming of 2.6 to 2.8 degrees.”