News from the UN’s climate change summit in Egypt notes a warning that the planet is ‘sending a distress signal’.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was responding to a UN report released on Sunday saying the past eight years were on track to be the warmest on record.
More than 120 world leaders are due to arrive at the ongoing summit known as COP27, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh which will kick off two weeks of negotiations between countries on climate action.
COP27 president, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, urged leaders to not let food and energy crises related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine get in the way of action on climate change.
“It is inherent in us all in Sharm el-Sheikh to demonstrate our recognition of the magnitude of the challenges we face and our steadfast resolve to overcome them.”
The need for action was laid bare in the latest report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.
Mr Guterres sent a video message to the conference in which he called the State of the Global Climate Report 2022 a ‘chronicle of climate chaos’.
In it, scientists estimate that global temperatures have now risen by 1.15C since pre-industrial times and said the latest eight years were on track to be the warmest on record.
The report also warned of the other wide-ranging impacts of climate change, including the acceleration of sea level rise, record glacier mass losses and record-breaking heatwaves.
Mr Guterres said that in light of these findings, COP27 must be the place for urgent and credible climate action.
