Humans Have Only Two Years Left ‘To Save the World’ From Climate Disaster: UN Climate Chief

Oxford: Humanity has only two years left “to save world” by making dramatic changes in way it spews heat-trapping emissions and it has even less time to act to get finances behind such a massive shift, head of United Nations climate ncy said on Wednesday.

With governments of world facing a 2025 deadline for new and stronger plans to curb carbon pollution, nearly half of world's populations voting in elections this year, and crucial global finance meetings later this month in Washington, United Nations executive climate secretary Simon Stiell said he kws his warning may sound melodramatic. But he said action over next two years is “essential.” “We still have a chance to make greenhouse gas emissions tumble, with a new generation of national climate plans. But we need se stronger plans, w,” Stiell said in a speech at Chatham House think tank in London. He suggested that climate action is t just for powerful people to address — in a t-so-veiled reference to electoral calendar this year.

“Who exactly has two years to save world? answer is every person on this planet,” Stiell said. “More and more people want climate action right across societies and political spectrums, in large part because y are feeling impacts of climate crisis in ir everyday lives and ir household budgets.” Crop-destroying droughts have increased need for bolder action to curb emissions and help farmers adapt which could boost food security and lessen hunger, he said. “Cutting fossil fuel pollution will mean better health and huge savings for governments and households alike,” Stiell said.

t everyone is convinced such warnings will be helpful.

"Two years to save world' is meaningless rhetoric — at best, it's likely to be igred, at worst, it will be counterproductive,” said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer, who is also a professor of international affairs.

Levels of carbon dioxide and methane in air last year hit all-time highs, according to United States government calculations, while scientists calculate that world's carbon dioxide emissions jumped 1.1 per cent. Last year was hottest year on record by far, global temperature monitoring groups concluded.

If emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from burning of coal, oil and natural gas continue to rise or don't start a sharp decline, Stiell said it “will furr entrench gross inequalities between world's richest and poorest countries and communities" that are being worsened by climate change.

And behind it all is money.

Stiell's speech comes just ahead of meetings of World Bank and or big multinational development institutions, where poorer nations, led by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Kenyan President William Ruto, are pushing for major reforms in systems that loan money to poor nations, especially those hit by climate-related disasters.

In conjunction with that push, Stiell called for “a quantum leap this year in climate finance.” He called for debt relief for countries that need it most, saying y are spending USD 400 billion on debt financing instead of preparing for and preventing future climate change.

He called for more financial aid, t just loans, and more money from different groups like banks, International Maritime Organization, and G20, world's 20 most powerful ecomies. Those countries are responsible for 80 per cent of world's heat-trapping emissions, he said.

“G20 leadership must be at core of solution, as it was during great financial crisis,” Stiell said.

"Every day, finance ministers, CEOs, investors, and development bankers direct trillions of dollars. It's time to shift those dollars from energy and infrastructure of past, towards that of a cleaner, more resilient future," Stiell said. “And to ensure that poorest and most vulnerable countries benefit.” Officials said climate finance problem needs to be fixed by end of year with vember's climate negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan, a crucial point.

Stiell is “absolutely right” that timing and finance are heart of matter, said longtime climate analyst Alden Meyer of European think tank E3G. carbon action plans submitted by next year will “determine wher we can get on trajectory of sharp emissions reductions needed to avoid much worse climate impacts than those we are already suffering today,” he said.

With so many elections and places where democracies are on brink, “climate finance related to carbon policy is on line,” said Nancy Lindborg, president of David and Lucille Packard Foundation, at Skoll World Forum, an ideas conference in Oxford, England.

Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare said Stiell was “listening to science” — namely that global emissions must be halved by end of decade to meet Paris climate accord's ambition of capping global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).

“Governments are where near that, and disastrously many are still supporting new fossil fuel development,” Hare said. “We need to see a massive strengning of action w - faster ramping up of renewables, electric vehicles and batteries - if we're to get serious reductions by 2030. longer we wait, more it will cost.”