UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres yesterday called on wealthy countries to move up their goals of achieving carbon neutrality as close as possible to 2040, mostly from 2050 now, in order to "defuse the climate time bomb." "Humanity is on thin ice -- and that ice is melting fast," the United Nations chief said in a video message as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its latest report on the impacts and trajectory of global warming. Guterres said the world still has time to limit average temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times but this requires "a quantum leap in climate action" by all countries in all sectors.
Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. This is yet another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere, with harmful and long-lasting ramifications for sustainable development and ecosystems, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The world must act to prevent ever worsening
climate impacts and
to keep
temperature increase to below 1.5°C above
pre-industrial levels
We are already too late to do much to arrest climate change. Even climate scientists are stunned by the pace at which the climatic conditions are being disrupted by the ignorance and deep-rooted selfishness of humanity. The past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record. The world must act to prevent ever worsening climate impacts and to keep temperature increase to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The world is now going through a situation where the most vulnerable countries, which deserve the highest level of priority, are failing to access support that is being realised. Major emitters show extreme reluctance on mitigation, which may wreck the international climate regime and put the climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh at peril. As developed countries are accountable for the severe consequences of climate change, they must provide with necessary financial, technological and intellectual support to the developing countries following the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change. Wealthier countries must help emerging economies speed their renewable energy transition. Needless to say, developing countries like Bangladesh need a global commitment to face climate challenges.
