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Political leaders around the world should declare a “climate emergency” in their countries to prevent global warming from reaching a catastrophic level, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday. More than 70 political leaders from around the world will address a one-day climate summit aimed at paving the way for more drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters reports, according to Agerpres.
UPDATE 22:45 US President-elect Joe Biden announced on Saturday that the United States will return to the Paris Agreement, from which they were removed by Donald Trump after his arrival in the White House.
“We will return to the Paris Agreement on the first day of the Biden-Harris administration’s term and lead the world in the fight against climate change,” Joe Biden wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
Macron wishes Americans “Welcome home!”
The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, greeted, in English, the expected return of the United States, with the coming to power of Joe Biden, in the Paris Climate Agreement, concluded five years ago and for which “we must act immediately “. “, Informs AFP, absorbed by Agerpres.
“Welcome back, welcome home!” (Welcome home! – no), the French president told his “American friends” in his speech at the climate summit, hosted virtually by the UN, France and Britain.
“We have continued to move forward, working, despite the election of the United States,” he said, referring to the departure of Donald Trump from Washington. “And I resisted,” Macron added.
However, the French president stressed that there are still difficulties to be overcome to meet the objectives of the agreement reached five years ago. “We don’t have much time left and we know that action must be immediate,” he said.
Macron particularly emphasized the need to chart a trajectory and provide credible means to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
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“Can anyone deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency? For this reason, today, I call on all leaders around the world to declare a state of climate emergency in their countries until carbon dioxide emissions are neutral, “said Antonio Guterres in a videoconference.
He also said that the economic reconstruction packages launched since the start of the pandemic with the new coronavirus represent an opportunity to accelerate the transition to a future with low levels of carbon pollution, but warned that this transition is not happening fast enough.
“At the moment, G20 members spend 50% more on incentives and rescue packages offered to sectors related to the production and consumption of fossil fuels, than on switching to clean energy. This is unacceptable. The trillions of dollars needed for post-Covid reconstruction are money we borrow from future generations. We cannot use these resources for policies that will leave a mountain of debt and a destroyed planet on the shoulders of future generations, ”said the UN Secretary General.
Publisher: BP
