UN chief terms Governments' inaction on climate as 'dangerous'

BERLIN: Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General on Tuesday warned of a "dangerous disconnect" between what governments are doing to stop the climate change and what scientists and citizens are actually calling for.

Current forecasts of global greenhouse gas emissions are seen to increase by 14 per cent, but Guterres says that they need to drop by 45 per cent this decade."We are witnessing a historic and dangerous disconnect: science and citizens are demanding ambitious and transformative climate action," he said at a climate conference in Austria. Meanwhile, the inaction of government to tackle this issue can result serious consequences.

Guterres said Russia's war in Ukraine would exacerbate the crisis, as major economies are "doubling down on fossil fuels" and causing much of the global warming, Associated Press reported.

"New funding for fossil fuel exploration and production infrastructure is delusional," he said in a video message to the Austrian World Summit, initiated by former California Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger. It will only further feed the scourge of war, pollution and climate catastrophe.

Guterres called on the rich nations to end their use of coal by 2030, and other nations to put a stop to it by 2040. He says that the focus must be shifted to replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

"Renewables are the peace plan of the 21st century," he said.