“We must make up for time lost to foot-dragging, arm-twisting, and the naked greed of entrenched interests raking in billions from fossil fuels,” Guterres said world leaders at the beginning of the daylong General Assembly symposium at UN headquarters in New York.
Following Guterres’ opening remarks, heads of state from 34 countries, including Brazil, Pakistan, South Africa, Canada, the European Union, and Tuvalu, a Polynesian island nation vulnerable by rising sea levels, were scheduled to speak on the significance of sustainability. Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, the president of Brazil, withdrew after becoming unwell. It was anticipated that his environment minister would speak in his place.
There were significantly no speakers from the world’s two greatest polluters and economies, China and the United States. Only countries who intended to increase their pledges to reduce emissions were given podium access. John Kerry, a U.S. special envoy for climate change, was present.
According to Guterres, although the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is already beginning, it has taken decades. He said that the developing world is being most negatively impacted by the effects of climate change, and that the Global North is mostly to blame.
Many of the world’s poorest countries have every reason to be upset, the U.N. chief said. “They are suffering from a climate crisis they did not cause, they are angry that promised financing has not materialized, and they are angry that their borrowing costs are exorbitant.”
Guterres expressed optimism that the climate summit will contribute in convincing some of the richest nations and businesses to achieve the U.N.’s global goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. He expressed hope that influential parties will move swiftly and increase their investments in the development of renewable energy.
However, reducing pollution outside of the richest regions of the Global North was also a priority.
William Ruto, the president of Kenya, asked the developing world to pool their trillions of dollars in combined resources to independently finance climate measures.
He asserted that neither Africa nor the emerging world required aid from rich nations.
In his speech, Ruto put up yet another progressive idea: a global tax on the sale of fossil fuels.
Executives from the travel insurer Allianz and many other significant international lenders, like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, attended the climate meeting as well. The governors of California and London were also scheduled to speak.
Global temperatures are projected to increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial normal in the coming decade, according to a U.N. assessment published earlier this month. This increase is widely regarded as a turning point in the fight to slow down climate change.