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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 3 december 2019

U.N. chief urges countries not to surrender on climate fight

By ARITZ PARRA and FRANK the process of pulling the
JORDANS country out of the Paris ac-
Associated Press cord.
MADRID (AP) — U.N. Sec- However, that won't be
retary-General António technically completed until
Guterres urged countries Nov. 4, 2020.
Monday not to lose hope But Democratic members
in the fight against climate of Congress led by House
change, as representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said
from nearly 200 countries the nation remains com-
gathered in Madrid for mitted to the 2015 agree-
a two-week meeting on ment's goals and that
tackling global warming. climate change poses a
In his opening speech to threat to public health, the
delegates, Guterres cit- economy and national se-
ed recent scientific data curity.
showing that levels of heat- "We're still in it," Pelosi said.
trapping gases have hit a Asked about comments by
record high, reaching lev- Spain's interim prime min-
els not seen for at least 3 ister, Pedro Sánchez, that
million years when sea lev- "only a handful of fanat-
els were 10-20 meters (33- ics deny the evidence" of
66 feet) higher than today. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks during a press conference at the COP25 climate man-made global warm-
Unless emissions of carbon talks summit in Madrid, Monday Dec. 2, 2019. ing, Pelosi responded that
dioxide and other green- Associated Press she had "three words that
house gases are sharply describe how we address
cut, temperatures could to reduce emissions of by the end of the century the planet — including ours this: science, science and
rise to twice the threshold greenhouse gases ahead compared with pre-indus- — would be catastrophic," science. And maybe four:
set in the 2015 Paris accord of a deadline to do so next trial times. he added. science, again."
by the end of the century, year. Already, average tem- "The only solution is rapid, "If we can stick with the sci-
he warned. The summit, which moved peratures have increased ambitious, transformative ence, I think we can come
"Do we really want to be to the Spanish capital after by about 1C, leaving little action by all — govern- up with some sane solutions
remembered as the gen- Chile had to pull out amid room for the more ambi- ments, regions, cities, busi- to it all," she said.
eration that buried its head anti-government protests, tious target to be met. nesses and civil society, all In an interview with The
in the sand, that fiddled aims to put the finishing Guterres called out big working toward a common Associated Press, the U.N.
while the planet burned?" touches to the rules gov- greenhouse gas emitters goal." chief hoped that stricter
Guterres asked. erning the 2015 Paris ac- that are still building coal- Organizers expect around goals in Europe would al-
His appeal came after cord. fired power plants, saying 29,000 visitors at the meet- low EU leaders to convince
Chile's environment minis- That involves creating a that unless the world stops ing, including around 50 fellow big polluters "to un-
ter, Carolina Schmidt, said functioning international burning coal "all our efforts heads of state and govern- derstand that this must be
the Dec. 2-13 meeting emissions-trading system to tackle climate change ment for Monday's open- a collective effort and that
needs to lay the ground- and compensating poor will be doomed." ing session. they all will have to cor-
work for moving toward countries for losses they He noted that had coun- In contrast to the European rect their policies in order
carbon-neutral economies suffer from rising sea levels tries started cutting their Union, which sent its newly to drastically be able to re-
while being sensitive to the and other consequences emissions drastically a de- sworn-in executive leader- duce the emissions."q
poorest and those most of climate change. cade ago, reaching the ship team to the summit,
vulnerable to rising temper- "We have a common chal- Paris goal would have the rest of the world's larg-
atures — something that lenge but with differenti- been much easier. est carbon emitters — the
policymakers have termed ated needs and urgencies, "Ten years ago, if countries United States, China and
"just transition." which we can only over- had acted on the science, India — have sent lower-
"Those who don't want come if we work together," they would have needed level ministers and officials.
to see it will be on the said Schmidt. to reduce emissions by The U.S. sent a delegation,
wrong side of history," said Countries agreed in Paris 3.3% each year," he said. led by Ambassador Mar-
Schmidt, who is chairing four years ago to limit glob- "Today, we need to reduce cia Bernicat, a senior State
the meeting. She called al warming to well below 2 emissions by 7.6% each Department official, even
on governments to make degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahr- year." though President Donald
more ambitious pledges enheit), ideally 1.5C (2.7F) "The impact on all life on Trump has formally begun