Climate pledges from Biden and others offer hope, says UN

The US president-elect is keener to tackle climate change than the sceptical incumbent Donald Trump

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed Columbia University.  AP

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday signalled hope that climate catastrophe could be averted thanks to pledges to cut carbon emissions from leaders in Europe, Asia and by United States President-elect Joe Biden.

The Secretary-General warned of mankind’s “suicidal” disregard for the environment and called for global carbon neutrality within three decades, more climate-focused finance and the development of new technologies to adapt to a warmer planet.

In a landmark address at Columbia University, he praised a recent announcement by the European Union to “become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050”, with similar pledges from China, Japan, South Korea and the “future United States administration” of Mr Biden.

“This means that by early next year, countries representing more than 65 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions and more than 70 per cent of the world economy will have made ambitious commitments to carbon neutrality,” said Mr Guterres.

“We must turn this momentum into a movement.”

Two new studies released by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Programme on Wednesday “spell out how close we are to climate catastrophe”, added Mr Guterres.

He described thawing ice caps, polluted oceans, biodiversity and forest loss, more so-called zoonotic diseases like Covid-19 and "apocalyptic fires and floods, cyclones and hurricanes" becoming a "new normal”.

“Nature always strikes back – and it is already doing so with growing force and fury,” said the secretary-general.

The UN chief spoke with Mr Biden on Monday and discussed the need for more global co-operation to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and climate crisis – two areas where President Donald Trump has shunned a multilateral approach.

Before his inauguration on January 20, Mr Biden has signalled that he will bring the US back into the Paris climate change deal that the US withdrew from the past month, the result of a 2017 decision by Mr Trump.

Mr Biden has also appointed John Kerry, a former US secretary of state and one of the architects of the Paris accord, as his special envoy for the climate – the most senior climate change appointment ever made in US politics.

The UAE government this week appointed Sultan Al Jaber, minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and an advocate for clean energy, as a special envoy for climate change.

Mr Guterres and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will co-host a December 12 event to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2015 Paris agreement and to drive momentum on tackling rising temperatures before talks in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.

The 2015 Paris accord, a global climate pact, has a legally binding aim of keeping the global rise in temperatures under 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times and to strive to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Achieving this involves reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. In becoming carbon neutral, a country must cut carbon dioxide emissions to zero, or offset any shortfalls by planting trees or using carbon capture and storage technology.