The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterreshas asked international leaders on Tuesday to tax the extraordinary profits of fossil energy companies in an apocalyptic speech in which he has also stated that “no region is safe” in terms of climate change.
Guterres has proposed that such profits go to help the countries most affected by climate change and also to those who suffer from food and energy prices.
“The world is in danger and paralyzed”Guterres told the heads of state and government gathered in New York, from whom he demanded cooperation and urgent measures to stop the effects of wars, against the food crisis and against climate change.
The organization’s secretary general had already raised the idea in recent months, but today he defended it before heads of state and government from around the world in his opening speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
“Our world is addicted to fossil fuels. It is time for an intervention,” Guterres said in a statement collected by EFE. Guterres stressed that companies in this sector have to be accountable and that it is time to stop the machinery of public relations and political pressures who defends them.
The Portuguese diplomat made it clear that it is not possible to end these energy sources from one day to the next, but called for a “just transition” in which the big polluters pay.
[La AIE urge a cuadruplicar las renovables para 2030 o la transición a cero emisiones “se retrasará décadas”]
For Guterres, climate change is the issue that will define this era and must be “the number one priority of all governments and multilateral organizations.”
In this sense, he denounced that the Emissions of greenhouse gases continue to increase and warned that the world is heading for a “climate disaster”, with effects that are already beginning to be seen, such as the severe droughts this year or the recent devastating floods in Pakistan.
“No region is safe and we haven’t seen anything yet. The hottest days of summer today may be the coolest tomorrow.“, he has warned.
Follow the topics that interest you
Source: Elespanol
