United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has on Monday urged developed nations to cut down on emissions stating that the “climate time bomb is ticking. ”
According to Reuters, the plea was made after a new assessment from experts revealed that there was little time to lose in tackling climate change.
The Secretary said, “The rate of temperature rise in the last half century is the highest in 2,000 years.
“Concentrations of carbon dioxide are at their highest in at least 2 million years. The climate time-bomb is ticking.”
Speaking in a recorded address, Guterres said the sixth “synthesis report” from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is “a survival guide for humanity”.
He, however, urged rich countries to commit to reaching net zero carbon emissions by early 2040.
The synthesis report combined findings from three expert assessments that were published between 2021 and 2022.
According to Reuters, the assessment touches on the physical science, impacts, and mitigation of climate change.
The aim of the summary is to guide policy makers as they plan further actions to reduce climate change.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said, “We have the tools to stave off and reduce the risks of the worst impacts of the climate crisis, but we must take advantage of this moment to act now.”
After a week of discussions in Interlaken, Switzerland, the 37-page report was condensed from thousands of pages of earlier evaluations.
The document will also serve as a roadmap for a global “stocktake” on climate change that will be conducted this year, during which nations will evaluate progress.
Nations are also required, as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, to revise their climate commitments by 2025.
According to the IPCC, emissions must be cut in half by the middle of the 2030s if the world is to have any hope of staying within the Paris Agreement’s core aim of keeping temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
