Vowing to fight backsliding on climate change, Guterres convening action summit

United Nations : Vowing to fight back against backsliding in the fight against climate change, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced a summit next year to get uncompromising commitments from governments and businesses.

Warning that the world “is moving in the wrong direction,” he declared on Monday, “We are not retreating. We are fighting back.”

The Climate Ambition Summit that will meet in September when world leaders gather for the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly will be a “non-nonsense summit,” he said.

“I call on every leader to step up — from governments, business, cities and regions, civil society and finance,” the Secretary-General added.

“Non-negotiable, credible, serious and new climate action and nature-based solutions” will be “the price of entry” to the summit, Guterres said.

The participants must come up with “credible, serious and new climate action and nature-based solutions that will move the needle forward and respond to the urgency of the climate crisis” and previous commitments will not count, he added.

We are fighting back to help emerging economies shift away from coal and accelerate the renewable energy revolution.

Guterres said that he will press for a Climate Solidarity Pact, “in which all big emitters make an extra effort to reduce emissions this decade in line with the 1.5-degree goal (to restrict global temperature increase) and ensure support for those who need it.”

Usually talk of “big emitters” brackets India with the largest polluters without taking into account the size of its population and the per capita emissions, which gives a different picture.

An Indian puts out 1.8 tonne of greenhouse gases per year, compared to 14.7 tonne by an American or 4.3 tonne by a Portuguese.

Guterres added that he will also work to “help emerging economies shift away from coal and accelerate the renewable energy revolution”.