UN chief seeks urgent action against global warming, urges countries to "fight misinformation" on climate

Geneva [Switzerland], October 22 (ANI): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that "global warming is pushing our planet to the brink" and called for "urgent global action" to expand early-warning systems and deliver on climate finance.

Guterres further urged countries to fight against "mis- and disinformation, online harassment, and greenwashing" in his address at an event on Early Warnings for All during the Extraordinary Session of the World Meteorological Congress in Geneva. The 193-member World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is the UN's weather and climate agency and is marking its 75th anniversary this year.

The UN Secretary General's comments on the "dangerous and existential threat of climate change" come in the wake of Donald Trump's address at the UN General Assembly in New York last month, in which the US President said climate change is the "greatest con job ever."

Guterres said "Every one of the last 10 years has been the hottest in history," and that "no country is safe from fires, floods, storms and heatwaves."

He stated that "early warnings are not an abstraction" and that "they work," by giving farmers the power to protect their crops and livestock, enabling families to evacuate safely and protecting entire communities from devastation.

The UN chief further commended the World Meteorolgoical Organization's scientists, technologists and meteorologists for embodying the body's anniversary's theme of "Science for Action."

"Over 60 per cent of countries now report having multi-hazard early-warning systems in place. And least developed countries have nearly doubled their capacity since official reporting began. Observation networks, regional collaboration and forecast capabilities are growing stronger every year. And breakthroughs in digital technology and artificial intelligence are modernising data exchange and alerting," Guerres said.

The 'Hazard Monitoring & Forecasting' report shows how much stronger forecast and warning systems have become, Guterres said, adding that there is still "a long way to go."

He advocated three areas of urgent action worldwide.

Governments, he said, must embed early-warning systems across their policies, institutions and budgets by bringing together meteorological and hydrological services into national disaster risk reduction mechanisms, including through legislation.

To reach every community globally, he said, requires a surge of financing and cited the consensus at The Financing for Development Conference in Sevilla in June to "unlock more finance for developing countries" and to "reform global financial institutions so they better meet the needs of developing countries."

Guterres added, " We need to address the problem of climate disasters at their source: a rapidly heating planet."

The UN Secretary General noted that in 2022, he had launched the United Nations Early Warnings for All initiative to ensure everyone, everywhere, is protected by an alert system by 2027.

Ahead of November's UN Climate Conference in Brazil, he urged countries to deliver bold new national climate action plans that align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The COP30 summit will be held in the Brazilian Amazon city of Belem from November 10-21.

In Brazil, leaders must agree on a credible plan to mobilise $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance by 2035 for developing countries, the UN Secretary General said.

"Developed countries must honour their commitment to double finance for adaptation to at least $40 billion this year, and rapidly deploy proven tools to unlock billions more in concessional finance," he said.

"Last year, almost all new power capacity came from renewables -- and investment is surging. Renewables are the cheapest, fastest and smartest source of new power. They represent the only credible path to end the relentless destruction of our climate," the UN Secretary General said.

Guterres added, "Scientists and researchers should never fear telling the truth."

Through the recently launched Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, Guterres said, governments and organisations are working together to fund research and action promoting information integrity on climate issues.

Trump had, in his UNGA address, said, "Climate change -- it's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion."

The "carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions", he said.

"We're getting rid of the falsely named renewables, by the way: they're a joke, they don't work, they're too expensive," he added talking about his administration's war on solar and wind power.

In a post on X on WEdnesday, Guterres said, "For 75 years, WMO has been a barometer of truth. A quiet force & credible source of data & information behind every climate-smart decision we make. Let's continue working as one to use science to deliver the Climate Action, and the justice, that people & planet urgently need." (ANI)

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