03 June, 2017
His remarks at New York University's Stern School of Business came at a time when the world waits for Donald Trump to announce whether the country will continue to uphold the Paris deal, which almost 200 countries signed as a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump, who was critical of the deal during his campaign for the presidency, is expected to make an announcement this week on whether the United States will remain a party to the climate accord that his predecessor, Barack Obama, strongly supported and signed.
Details about how they will withdraw are being finalised now; To be decided is whether the withdrawal will be formal or whether to exit the underlying United Nations climate change treaty-the former can take three years, while the latter is faster but is "more extreme", Axios reports.
Gutteres never mentioned the American leader by name in his speech at New York University's Stern School of Business, his first major address on climate change since taking the reins of the United Nations on January 1.
"The effects of climate change are risky and they are accelerating", Secretary-General Guterres told a gathering of students, business leaders and academics at the New York University Stern School of Business.
Underlining that science behind climate change "is beyond doubt", Mr. Guterres said: "As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put it: "Human influence on the climate system is clear".
Further in his remarks, the Secretary-General cautioned that failure to act on combating climate change would in turn harm the countries themselves for their inaction.
In order to do that, countries pledge to reduce their carbon emissions. "The more we disrupt our climate, the more we risk severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts", he said, recalling that global temperatures have been rising, year after year, and that that last year was the hottest on record. New markets. Healthier environments. "We can not phase out fossil fuels overnight".
Guterres listed nations around the world which are embracing green technologies, saying they will set the gold standard for economic leadership in the 21st century.
He said solar power grew 50 percent previous year, with China and the United States in the lead, and in both those countries "new renewable energy jobs now outstrip those created in the oil and gas industries".
Major oil producers are also seeing the future and diversifying their economies, even Saudi Arabia announcing plans to install 700 megawatts of solar and wind power.
"The real danger is not the threat to one's economy that comes from acting. Get on board or get left behind".
He also said that he would engage more with major actors - the coal, oil and gas industries - to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy, and committed stronger support to governments as they strive to meet climate commitments and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Paris deal is the world's first comprehensive climate agreement, with the aim of keeping the global average rise in temperatures below 2C. "That is where true change will be achieved", he said.
United Nations chief vowed to mobilise governments, the energy industry, investors and civil society.
This is published unedited from the PTI feed.
