None of the world’s challenges loom as large as climate change, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his keynote address to the R20 Austrian World Summit in mid-May, reiterating his belief that global warming poses an “existential threat” to humanity.
Mr. Guterres said there was reason to hope, declaring that “the world is seeing a groundswell of climate action,” citing examples, including Morocco’s building of a solar farm “the size of Paris, that will power over a million homes by 2020” and China’s achievement in already passing it’s 2020 goal of producing 105 gigawatts of solar power capacity.
WHO reports that more than 80% of people living in urban areas are exposed to poor-quality air that is damaging human health. “We must build on this,” the UN chief emphasized, calling renewable energy power that delivers significant health benefits.
Mr. Guterres encouraged private sector leaders attending the UN General Assembly-backed summit in the Austrian capital, to announce new financing for clean energy projects.
Investments in clean, green infrastructure need to be scaled up globally. For that, we need leadership from the finance and investment community and by local, regional and national governments who will decide on major infrastructure plans over the coming years.
Noting that climate change continues to move faster than climate action, Mr. Guterres quoted the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change saying:
The more we disrupt our climate, the more we risk severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts… Let’s join a race to the top, a race where there are only winners.