Glasgow: United Nations secretary general António Guterres said on Monday that the world was digging its own grave by burning fossil fuels and destroying the environment, thereby pushing humanity to the brink.
“We face a stark choice — either we stop it or it stops us. It’s time to say enough,” the UN chief said at the UN’s COP26 climate summit at Glasgow.
“Enough of brutalising biodiversity, enough of killing ourselves with Carbon, enough of treating nature like a toilet, enough of burning, drilling and mining our way deeper. We’re digging our own graves. Our planet is changing before our eyes,” Guterres said.
“We must keep the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius warming alive. This requires greater action on mitigation and immediate concrete steps to reduce global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030… We need maximum ambition – from all countries on all fronts – to make #COP26 a success,” he reminded more than 120 heads of states and governments who are attending the two-day summit.
He observed that the Paris Climate Agreement happened in 2015, but the six years since then have been the six hottest years on record.
“The sirens are sounding. Our planet is telling us something — and so are people everywhere. We must listen, we must act and we must choose wisely. Choose ambition. Choose solidarity. Choose to safeguard our future and save humanity,” he appealed.
US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Germany’s Angela Merkel will all deliver speeches during the summit.
