Leaders Pledge Action And Finance For Climate Initiatives At UN General Assembly
Matthew Lauster is a freelance writer living in Washington, D.C. Matthew graduated from the College at Brockport State University of New York with a BA’s of Science in Journalism and Broadcasting and a Minor in History. He has previously reported on climate change for George Washington University’s Planet Forward.
September 27, 2021—As the world’s leaders convene in New York this month for the 76th United Nations General Assembly, they are discussing national and multilateral efforts to address the many challenges the world faces. At the top of many of their lists is climate change, and its drastic impacts around the world.
“Without deep and rapid decarbonization of our energy systems over the next 10 years, we will never reach the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5-degrees,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres. “This will be fatal to the Sustainable Development Goals, to us all and the planet…. But this bleak future is not inevitable.”
Even under the current pledge levels by countries to reduce emissions, the world is “off track,” according to the UN chief.
Debate Is Over
Climate Change, as defined by Oxford Languages, is “a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.”
The debate about whether or not it is happening is over. It is. Furthermore, the science is clear that human activity is the main driver of global warming.
If there was any doubt, a UN working group made clear in August that, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.” The report further said the best-case scenario still shows the Earth warming by 1.5 degree Celsius by 2040.
Rising Greenhouse Gas Emissions
In order to meet the goal of not increasing more than that 1.5 degree Celsius mark, the world needs to cut its CO2 emissions by about 45 percent from the 2010 level by 2030 and reach net zero around 2050, according to the latest findings released this month by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In that regard, the global community is not meeting its goals. The findings show that greenhouse gas emissions are rising, not declining. In fact, the projected emissions level for 2030 is s expected to be 16.3 percent above the 2010 level, even with the countries’ latest pledges.
‘Time For Humanity To Grow Up’
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson devoted his entire speech to climate change and the responsibility of humanity to make amends.
“Daily, weekly, we are doing such irreversible damage that long before a million years are up, we will have made this beautiful planet effectively uninhabitable – not just for us but for many other species,” Johnson said.
Johnson is leading a UN initiative on climate action. He held a roundtable on climate action early last week along with Guterres, the UN chief.
Upcoming Glasgow Conference Is Key
Johnson said the Climate Change Conference scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland will mark a turning point for humanity. He called on every nation to make a pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
“My friends the adolescence of humanity is coming to an end,” he said, adding, “It is time for humanity to grow up.”
Greenhouse Gases
Fossil fuel emissions (CO2) are the main factor causing the greenhouse effect. Emissions have increased by about 90 percent since 1970, according to the U.S. EPA. The European Union’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research provides a snapshot of the CO2 emissions by sector.
World’s Biggest Polluters
It may come as no surprise that the world’s biggest polluters are also the largest economies and global powers. According to a recent report provided by Statista, China leads the way with accounting for 28 percent of fossil fuel emissions. The United States is second, accounting for just under 15 percent. After that, India and Russia follow at 7 and 5 percent respectively.
China Emphasizes Economic Development
For his part, Xi Jinping primarily emphasized economic development in the world and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. However, he addressed climate in the context of driving “harmony between man and nature.”
Unlike many other nations, Xi did not pledge a carbon-neutral policy by 2050. Instead, he said China would “strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.”
“We need to accelerate transition to a green and low-carbon economy and achieve green recovery and development,” Xi said. “China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad.”
Phasing Out Coal
Guterres called on industrialized countries to phase out existing coal capacity by 2030 and other countries to do so by 2040. He also asked developed nations to put $100 billion of climate finance toward energy transitions, especially in developing countries.
U.S. Rejoins The Efforts
This year marks U.S. President Joe Biden’s first U.N. appearance as president.
He campaigned on putting the climate first. One of his first actions as president was to rejoin the Paris Agreement, an international treaty signed by 191-countries.
Since taking office, Biden signed executive orders to help reach his proposed goal of getting the United States to net zero emissions by 2050. Last week, he devote a significant part of his speech to climate action.
“This year has also brought widespread death and devastation from the borderless climate crisis,” Biden said. “The extreme weather events that we have seen in every part of the world — and you all know it and feel it — represent what the Secretary-General has rightly called ‘code red for humanity.'”
Biden added that he’s working with Congress to make critical investments in green infrastructure, including support for electric vehicles.
Most Threatened Nations
Meanwhile, even though climate change affects the entire planet, some countries are feeling more drastic effects compared to others. The countries most impacted by extreme weather events in 2019, according to the German Watch‘s Climate Risk Index, include Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the Bahamas, Japan, Malawi, Afghanistan, India, South Sudan, Niger, and Bolivia. The index ranked countries are ranked by analyzing both the amount of weather-related events and the casualties and property damage caused by such events.
Additional reporting by Patti Mohr.
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