UN chief appeals for ambitious climate action

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appealed for ambitious climate action, saying 2021 must be the year in which the world leaps forward into a net-zero emissions future.

In a pre-recorded video message to a "Caring for Climate" high-level meeting, Guterres said the world is still far from where it needs to be five years after the Paris Agreement on climate change.

"The world is off track and multilateralism itself is being questioned precisely when we need it most. To recover from the pandemic, we need effective climate action. In the process, we can create millions of jobs, promote cleaner technologies, and vastly improve global health."

He called for efforts to take or advocate for six climate-positive actions: invest in sustainable jobs; ensure no more bailouts to polluters; shift taxation from income to carbon, from taxpayers to polluters; end subsidies for fossil fuels, especially coal; include climate risks in all decisions and disclose climate-related financial risks; work together with a common purpose to leave no one behind.

He welcomed hopeful movement in climate action.

The European Union, along with Japan, Britain, South Korea and more than 110 other nations, has pledged carbon neutrality by 2050. China says it will be carbon neutral before 2060, he noted.

"By early next year, with the pledge of the incoming United States administration, I expect countries representing more than 65 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and more than 70 percent of the world economy to have committed to carbon neutrality."

It is also encouraging to see how businesses are responding, he said.

Through "Business Ambition for 1.5 degrees Celsius," more than 340 chief executive officers are stepping up to align their companies' emission targets with a 1.5-degree future and the goal to reach net-zero emissions well before 2050. Under "Race to Zero," these business leaders are joined by hundreds of mayors, governors and investors, universities, and civil society organizations, he told the high-level meeting convened by the UN Global Compact, UN Environment Programme, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN High-Level Climate Champions.