A Moment of Truth: Special Address on Climate Action by UN Chief with Bloomberg & others

On World Environment Day, UN Secretary-General Guterres will deliver a pivotal speech at the American Museum of Natural History with opening remarks by UN Special Envoy Michael R. Bloomberg and Museum President Sean M. Decatur.

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As climate records are shattered, and emissions continue to rise, on Wednesday, June 5 at 10:00 AM EDT the UN Secretary-General António Guterres will set out some hard-hitting truths about the state of the climate, the grotesque risk leaders are running, and what companies and countries – particularly the G7 and the G20 – need to do over the next eighteen months to salvage humanity’s chances of a liveable future. The Secretary-General will also share new data from the World Meteorological Organisation and The Copernicus Climate Change Service. The Secretary-General will be joined by Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and Sean M. Decatur, President of the American Museum of Natural History.

António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Ambition and Solutions
Sean M. Decatur, President of the American Museum of Natural History
Femi Oke, International Journalist

Delivering a special address at the American Museum of Natural History on climate change, Secretary-General António Guterres today (5 Jun) said, “the truth is, almost ten years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, the target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging by a thread.”

As climate records are shattered, and emissions continue to rise, Guterres stressed that the world “is spewing emissions so fast” that by 2030, “a far higher temperature rise would be all but guaranteed.”

He noted a World Meteorological Organisation report, issued today that indicates that “there is an eighty percent chance the global annual average temperature will exceed the 1.5 degree limit in at least one of the next five years.”

Guterres said, “we are playing Russian roulette with our planet. We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell. And the truth is, we have control of the wheel. The 1.5 degree limit is still just about possible. Let’s remember – it’s a limit for the long-term – measured over decades, not months or years.”

He pointed out that “the difference between 1.5 and two degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities. The difference between minimizing climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points.”

1.5 degrees, Guterres said, “is not a target. It is not a goal. It is a physical limit.”

The Secretary-General set out what companies and countries – particularly the G7 and the G20 – need to do over the next eighteen months to salvage humanity's chances of a liveable future.

He said, “the cost of all this chaos is hitting people where it hurts: From supply-chains severed, to rising prices, mounting food insecurity, and uninsurable homes and businesses. That bill will keep growing. Even if emissions hit zero tomorrow, a recent study found that climate chaos will still cost at least $38 trillion a year by 2050.”

Renewables he noted, “already make up thirty percent of the world’s electricity supply. And clean energy investments reached a record high last year – almost doubling in the last ten years. Wind and solar are now growing faster than any electricity source in history. And economic logic makes the end of the fossil fuel age inevitable.”

The only questions, Guterres said are: “Will that end come in time? And will the transition be just?”

The G20 countries, he stressed, “produce eighty percent of global emissions” and they “have the responsibility, and the capacity, to be out in front.”

He said, “advanced G20 economies should go furthest, fastest; And show climate solidarity by providing technological and financial support to emerging G20 economies and other developing countries.”

The Secretary-General said, “it is a disgrace that the most vulnerable are being left stranded, struggling desperately to deal with a climate crisis they did nothing to create. We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unliveable lands.”

He said, “it is high time to put an effective price on carbon and tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies. By COP29, we need early movers to go from exploring to implementing solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction – to help fund climate action. These should be scalable, fair, and easy to collect and administer. None of this is charity. It is enlightened self-interest.”

[brma]

War, division, and greed will destroy all. Peace, connection, and generosity will save all.

[barbiejohnson]

Rise Humanity rise.
Rise up from all of the lies.
Rise up to clarity, let go of old ideology.
Humanity is one big family!
What injures you injures me.
It is time that we become free,
and trust our own guide from within and begin;
to heal Humanity as a whole,
joining each other soul to soul.
Namaste.

[raisttlyn]

Won't happen that quickly without an iron fist and no nation will allow that to happen to them.

[maddogwillie]

The truth is all of humanity is dancing on a volcano, and the fossil fuel industry are who is playing the music

[magharry]

Best interview of the year. Knowledgeable. Necessary. Solution driven. Courageous. Both speaker and interviewer.

[jimsigrist]

Focusing mainly on carbon is short sighted. Removing aerosols will raise global average temperature 0.3-0.6 C quickly. Billions will die before 2050. Greenland is melting as well as Antarctica. Then there is melting permafrost and methane and nitrous oxide. Last ditch effort is geoengineering and carbon capture. This will buy a little precious time at best.

[meeranraees]

Mr guterres secretary general of general assembly of United nation 8 months before finishing jobs of United nation

[ErnestOfGaia]

Carbon Fees and Dividends would seem to change the incentives and rewards for finance and consumption, in a progressive, fair, and scalable way.

[josephs]

Co 2 is not the cause for climate change.But because of a unique reason this climate change occurs.

[ramontrevinosantoyo]

LLEGÓ EL MOMENTO DE DEJAR PARA OTRA OCASIÓN "EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE". PROCEDER DE INMEDIATO A CANCELAR TODOS LOS PROYECTOS DE AMPLIACION DE LA ACTIVIDAD TURISTICA Y SI ES POSIBLE REDUCIRLA.

[imnotanalien]

Every country that sends ambassadors to the UN… knows what to do. They are at the UN looking for some country, like the U.S., to hand their bills to.
US taxpayers are not responsible for THEIR bills. The U.S. produces products and services that they want and demand. That is a lot. They are responsible for their own bills and their pollution…and stop looking for anything else.

[DAnnaHawkinsHensley-kfnm]

France and Spain refused to be included in the world war II peace treaty agreement they did receive notice that there are people would have no permission to reside in any of the Nations that did agree and were included in the world war II peace treaty agreement

[alwayswarm]

이 내용과는 관련이 없지만 한번쯤 읽고 꼭 참고해 사용해보면 도움이 되지 않을까 합니다.
미국에서 난민 망명을 하루 2500명이 넘으면 망명신청을 받지 않는다는 뉴스의 내용을 보았습니다.
그래서 제가 보기에는 UN측에서 인력을 파견하여 미국망명이 가능한 장소 한곳을 정하여 하루에 꼭 2450명까지 미국으로 난민들이 망명을 할수있도록 질서유지를 해주면 난민들에게 도움이 되지 않을까 합니다.
그리고 그다음 날에도 다음날에도 계속해서 하루에 2450명까지 난민들이 미국에 망명을 할수있도록 도움을 주면 어떨까 합니다.
나머지 50명은 질서를 지키지 않는 사람들이 있을 경우에 대비해 남겨두는것이 좋지 않을까 합니다.

[abgzulkifli]

Just a simple Climate change, cheap cost, tired of waiting for payment

[meeranraees]

Including red sea shipping war Ukraine and Russia war Israel and Gaza war there's subject including world war group policy

[scbosefoundation]

The decisions taken by YS Jaganmohan Reddy are great, why are you hammering me

[meeranraees]

European parliament and European union commission and United nations in very least climate change and net zero emissions global warming potential risk

[Blackvampire]

I wish they would just get to the point.

[arnoldziffel]

If they consider the people to be the meteor, what would they like to do to us? I’m not sure the people are a bigger threat to life on Earth than the man at the podium.

[confuseatronica]

its going to be an interesting couple of decades- we're all going to see things happen in the world that we never got to see before! If you like post-apocalyptic and disaster movies, you will like the next years.

Right up until it comes for you, then you will feel the reality of it and the rest of your life will be day to day survival. It's not too late to change where we're headed, but it's going to take more than we've ever seen in history to change course now.