New Delhi:
The UN Climate Chief, Simon Stiell, stated on Wednesday that governments, business leaders, and development banks have two years to take action to avert far worse climate change.
In a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London, Mr Stiell said, “We still have a chance to make greenhouse gas emissions tumble, with a new generation of national climate plans. But we need these stronger plans now.”
Mr Stiell emphasized, “Who exactly has two years to save the world? The answer is every person on this planet.”
He added, “More and more people want climate action right across societies and political spectrums, largely because they are feeling the impacts of the climate crisis in their everyday lives and household budgets.”
Mr Stiell also highlighted that the climate crisis was slipping down a crowded global agenda at a time when consensus was needed on how to help developing nations pay for clean energy and respond to extreme weather.
“I’ll be candid: blame-shifting is not a strategy. Sidelining climate isn’t a solution to a crisis that will decimate every G20 economy and has already started to hurt,” said the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Mr Stiell’s rallying cry follows this week’s announcement by Europe’s climate monitor that March was the hottest on record and the tenth straight month of historic heat around the globe.