United Nations: “The world is closing its eyes to a climate catastrophe”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday that the world was heading "closed-eyed towards climate catastrophe", saying that despite the "deterioration" of the situation, major economies continued to increase their greenhouse gas emissions.

He said at a conference on sustainable development organized by "The Economist" in London that the goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era, which is the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement, is in a "critical situation."

According to the United Nations, it will be necessary to reduce emissions by 45 percent by 2030 in order to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

But emissions are still rising and the planet has gained an average of about 1.1°C compared to the pre-industrial period, leading to a doubling of heat waves, droughts, storms and catastrophic floods.

Guterres said in a pre-recorded video clip that the problem was exacerbating, noting that in the year 2020, climate disasters caused "30 million people to be displaced from their homes, three times the number of people displaced by conflicts."

Guterres described the continued dependence on fossil fuels as "madness", saying: "The addiction to fossil fuels is leading us towards mass destruction."

"The good news is that all G-20 governments, including China, Japan and Korea, have agreed to stop financing coal-fired projects abroad, and they must now do the same at home," he added.

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