New York, June 15 – Countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are urged to completely phase out coal by 2030 and others by 2040 as part of global efforts to transition to renewable energy, the United Nations chief said. There are some 38 countries in the group with a majority ranked as very high-income economies.
Antonio Guterres said the climate agenda is being undermined and countries are backtracking on implementing programs to keep the planet’s temperature at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Instead, current policies are taking the world to a 2.8-degree temperature rise by the end of the century, he said.
“That spells catastrophe,” he said after holding discussion with civil society organizations on his climate acceleration agenda. “Yet the collective response remains pitiful. We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open – with far too many willing to bet it all on wishful thinking, unproven technologies and silver bullet solutions.”
“Countries must progressively phase them out, moving to leave oil, coal and gas in the ground where they belong – and massively boost renewable investment.”
Guterres said the transition cannot happen overnight and he has put forward an Acceleration Agenda to “supercharge these efforts.”
“Transition plans are precisely to provide a roadmap for a managed, orderly process that guarantees affordability, access and energy security,” he said. The agenda calls for a complete phasing out of coal, an end to all international coal funding, both public and private, and an end to licensing or funding of new oil and gas. It alco calls for stopping the expansion of existing oil and gas, ensuring net zero electricity generation by 2035 in developed countries and 2040 everywhere else.
The fossil fuel industry and its enablers are urged “to apply its massive resources to drive, not obstruct, the global move from fossil fuels to renewables and reap the benefits.”
Guterres said the oil and gas industry reaped a record US$4 trillion windfall in net income in 2022 and only 4 cents went to clean energy and carbon capture for every dollar spent on oil and gas drilling and exploration.
“Trading the future for thirty pieces of silver is immoral,” he said. “I call on all fossil fuel companies to present credible, comprehensive and detailed new transition plans – fully in line with all the recommendations of my High-level Expert Group on net zero pledges.”
U.N. Security Council urged to take climate action
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the 15-nation council on June 13 that action must be taken to avert ever-worsening climate change impacts on peace and security, U.N. News reported. An estimated 3.5 billion people are living in “climate hot spots,” and related peace and security risks are only set to heighten.
“Given the growing linkages of climate change, peace, and security as well as the broader changes to the conflict dynamics in the areas in which we work, we must continue to adapt,” Lacroix said.
Lacroix said the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report showed that climatic and such risks as biodiversity loss and violent conflict will increasingly interact.
Lacroix said that within the past several years, most U.N. peace operations have faced greater dangers and political challenges. Of the 16 countries that are the most climate vulnerable, nine of them host a U.N. field mission: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen. Lacroix emphasized that the majority of U.N. peace operations are deployed in contexts that are both highly climate exposed and characterized by high levels of gender inequality.
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