UN Head: Global Action on Climate Crisis 'Way Off Track'

The secretary general of the UN, António Guterres, has said that time is running out and that the world is ‘way off track’ when it comes to handling the climate crisis.

Guterres made the observations when launching the UN’s Statement on the State of the Global Climate for 2019.

The assessment of global climate is carried out by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Other UN agencies also provide input, including the agencies for health, food, environment, disasters, refugees and migration.

The report showed that 2019 was a record-breaking year for global temperatures. Rising levels of hunger, displacement, and loss of life were seen as a result of the extreme heat and floods that occurred globally.

Scientists claim that the threat from the climate crisis is greater than the threat posed by coronavirus, and that leaders across the world should not be distracted from taking action against climate change.

2019 saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded for the oceans, with marine heatwaves being experienced by at least 84% of the seas. Surface air temperatures were also the hottest on record, after the strongest El Niño in 35 years was recorded in 2016.

The report also says that figures from the World Glacier Monitoring service show that 2018-2019 was another year in which more ice was lost than gained - the 32nd year running.

The combined melting of land ice with the thermal expansion of water caused sea levels to also rise to the highest mark ever recorded.

“Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. We are currently way off track to meeting either the 1.5C or 2C targets that the Paris agreement calls for,” Guterres said.

“Time is fast running out for us to avert the worst impacts of climate disruption and protect our societies”.

“We need more ambition on [the cutting of emissions], adaptation and finance in time for the climate conference, Cop26, in Glasgow, UK, in November. That is the only way to ensure a safer, more prosperous and sustainable future for all people on a healthy planet,” he added.

Imperial College London’s Professor Brian Hoskins, said: “The report is a catalogue of weather in 2019 made more extreme by climate change, and the human misery that went with it. It points to a threat that is greater to our species than any known virus – we must not be diverted from the urgency of tackling it by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to zero as soon as possible.”