Baku, Nov 12 (EFE).– UN Secretary-General António Guterres Tuesday called for new global taxes on aviation, shipping, and fossil fuel extraction to climate transition efforts in developing countries.
“Polluters must pay,” Guterres said at the COP29 opening in Baku, highlighting the financial obstacles that developing nations face in transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, despite their minimal contribution to global emissions.
Since his first term, the UN head has made climate change central to his agenda, often underscoring the urgency of decisive action.
Nearly 200 nations have gathered at the annual UN climate summit in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku.
Among other goals, the meeting seeks to raise hundreds of billions of dollars to fund a global transition to cleaner energy sources and limit the climate damage caused by carbon emissions.
“The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And time is not on our side,” Guterres told the world leaders.
The UN chief referenced record-breaking heat this year, warning that 2024 is set to become the hottest on record.
Citing a t survey by the University of Oxford and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), he noted that 80 percent of people globally want stronger climate action. Scientists, activists, and young people are demanding change – they must be heard, not silenced.”
The UN chief reiterated a common theme in his speeches, linking climate issues to social inequality.
“The rich cause the problem, the poor pay the highest price,” he said, citing an Oxfam report on how the richest billionaires were emiting more carbon in an hour and a half than the average person does in a lifetime.
He highlighted the financial challenges developing countries face in shifting to cleaner energy, noting that the adaptation funding gap could reach $359 billion by 2030.
He projected that these nations would need at least $40 billion annually from 2025, a goal they cannot meet independently. “Climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment. Climate action is not optional, it’s an imperative.”
While he avoided calling out specific governments, Guterres condemned those persisting with fossil fuels, recalling how last year the amount invested in greens and renewables overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels.
“And almost everywhere, solar and wind are the cheapest sources of electricity. So doubling down on fossil fuels is absurd.”
He said the clean energy revolution was already here. “No group, no business, and no government can stop it. But you can and must ensure it is fair, and fast enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
He said with the hottest day on record, the hottest months on record, it was “almost certain to be the hottest year on record.”
“And a masterclass in climate destruction: Families running for their lives before the next hurricane strikes; Biodiversity destroyed in sweltering seas; Workers and pilgrims collapsing in insufferable heat. Floods tearing through communities, and tearing down infrastructure.”
He said all these disasters, and more, were being supercharged by human-made climate change. “And no country is spared.” EFE
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