The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, made a strong statement on the climate change situation in July 2023. According to him, it is not necessary to wait until the end of the month to confirm that this month will break all records in terms of heat, and he lamented that the era of global warming has come to an end to make way for the “era of global boiling.”
Guterres highlighted the cruelty of the summer in large parts of North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, calling it a disaster for the planet. He stressed that humans are responsible for this situation and underlined the alarming speed of climate change.
The consequences of this phenomenon are tragic, with children affected by monsoon rains, families fleeing forest fires, and workers fainting in the extreme heat. Faced with this catastrophic situation, Guterres reiterated his call for radical and urgent action and pointed to the fossil fuel sector as one of the main causes of the climate crisis.
Hosting a September climate summit in New York, the UN secretary-general urged developed countries to commit to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 and emerging economies by 2050. He called on leaders to stop wavering and take concrete steps to address the climate emergency.
Although the situation is alarming, Guterres stressed that there is still hope and that the worst can be avoided if bold and ambitious steps are taken. He urged turning a year of extreme heat into a year of ambition to combat climate change effectively.