World leaders should declare states of "climate emergency" in their countries to spur action to avoid catastrophic global warming, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in opening remarks to a climate summit on Saturday.
More than 70 world leaders are due to address the one-day virtual
gathering aimed at building momentum for much steeper cuts in planet-warming emissions on the fifth anniversary of the 2015 Paris climate accord.
"Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency?" Guterres said via video. "That is why today, I call on all leaders worldwide to declare a State of Climate Emergency in their countries until carbon neutrality is reached."
Guterres said that economic recovery packages launched in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic represented an opportunity to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future - but warned this was not happening fast enough.
"So far, the members of the G20 are spending 50% more in their stimulus and rescue packages [...]
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Climate change includes both the global warming driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases, and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century the rate of human impact on Earth's climate system and the
global scale of that impact have been unprecedented.