UN Secretary-General urges OECD countries to stop using coal by 2030

UN, 13 Sep – PRIME. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to stop using coal in energy, the rest should follow suit by 2040.

This statement was made by the Secretary General, commenting on the UN report on the environmental theme “United in Science”. A renewable energy revolution is needed to drastically cut carbon emissions, he said.

As the secretary general pointed out, “all countries should increase their national climate ambitions every year until we get on the right track.”

The G20, which accounts for 80% of global emissions, must take the lead. There should be no new coal-fired power plants, and by 2030 coal should be phased out for OECD countries and by 2040 for everyone else,” Guterres said in his address.

“The current free use of fossil fuels must end now,” he added.

At the same time, as the Secretary General recalled, the leaders of the countries gave an obligation in the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees and increase resilience to climate change.

“This year’s report … shows that we are still far from the intended path. Action to combat climate change is stalled on key fronts, and the poorest countries and people are suffering the most,” the secretary general said.

He called it a scandal that developed countries did not take the problem of adaptation seriously and neglected their obligations to help the developing world.

“The Glasgow Summit decision calls on developed countries to collectively allocate $40 billion a year in new adaptation funding. This must be fully implemented as a starting point,” he stressed.

“But this is clearly not enough. By 2030, adaptation funding needs will grow to at least $300 billion a year,” Guterres added.