The UN Secretary-General ruled on Tuesday that the natural disasters that have marked this year, from heatwaves in Europe to floods in Pakistan or droughts in China, Africa and the United States, “are the price of dependence on fossil fuels”.
“There’s nothing natural about the magnitude of these disasters,” which stem from reliance on coal, gas or oil, António Guterres said, adding that climate-related disasters have multiplied fivefold over the past half-century, leading to daily losses of more than 200. million dollars (approximately 199 million euros at current exchange rates).
“Year after year we play all or nothing with this addiction, even though the symptoms get worse and we know what the cure is,” Guterres said in a video message at the launch of a new climate impact statement coordinated by the World Meteorological Agency (WMO). ).
Guterres, who just visited Pakistan to see the effects of the country’s worst flooding in decades, argued that G20 countries should lead the fight against climate change, as they are responsible for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. .
He also stressed that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, including many of the most prosperous economies, should stop using coal as an energy source by 2030, and that the rest of the world should do so over less. than ten years.
“The current policy of ‘fuels’ fossils for everyone’ must stop now, as it is a recipe for permanent climate chaos and suffering,” he concluded.
The WMO report, which compiles information from previous studies and preliminary data, indicates, among other things, that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to grow, despite the reduction in emissions in 2020 due to the pandemic.
In 2021, concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere were above 410 parts per million, about 150% above pre-industrial levels (as of 1750), and by 2022 some intermediate measurements reached 430 parts per million, according to the WMO.
After a 5.8% reduction in CO2 emissions in 2020, favored by restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic, preliminary data for this year conclude that the levels of 2019, the last year before the health crisis, have already been reduced. reaches. %.
The report also recalls that the average global temperature in the five years 2018-2022 was about 1.17 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average, the past five years were the warmest on record and there is a 93% chance that this record will be broken in the next five years.
The report also includes warnings from the United Nations Environment Program that, even with the emissions reduction and carbon neutrality pledges many countries have made, the average global temperature rise this century could be around 2.1 degrees. can be.
If the current situation were to continue, the increase in average temperature would be worse, reaching 2.8 degrees, and both possibilities are very discouraging given that the Paris Agreement on combating climate change has set the ceiling to limit global warming. to limit the earth to 1.5 degrees.
Source: DN
