UN chief warns of ‘point of no return’ on climate change

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says global efforts to stop climate change have been “utterly inadequate” so far and warns that “the point of no return is no longer over the horizon.”

Guterres told reporters in Madrid on Sunday that the world has the scientific knowledge and the technical means to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) enshrined in the 2015 Paris climate accord, but “what is lacking is political will.”

Speaking before the start Monday of a two-week international climate conference in the Spanish capital, Guterres said that “our war against nature must stop and we know that that is possible.”

Guterres also announced that outgoing Bank of England governor Mark Carney will become his new special envoy on “climate action and climate finance” from next year.