Released November 09, 2021 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--"We are still heading for climate disaster" was the stark message delivered by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, at the opening of the world leaders' climate summit at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The spotlight is firmly focused on climate change and fossil fuels at COP26, where over 120 heads of state and government gathered, almost six years after the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was signed by more than 165 nations in New York. At the time, they pledged to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to strive for 1.5 degrees.
"The six years since the Paris Agreement [on climate change] have been the six hottest years on record," Guterres noted. "Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice: either we stop it--or it stops us. It's time to say 'enough.' Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves."
Guterres added: "Recent climate action announcements might give the impression that we are on track to turn things around. This is an illusion. The last published report on nationally determined contributions showed that they would still condemn the world to a calamitous 2.7°C increase. And even if the recent pledges were clear and credible--and there are serious questions about some of them--we are still careening towards climate catastrophe. Even in the best-case scenario, temperatures will rise well above 2°C. So, as we open this much anticipated climate conference, we are still heading for climate disaster."
Attendees at COP26 included U.S. President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Australia's Scott Morrison and India's Narendra Modi. Notable by their absence were President Xi Jinping of China, the world's largest emitter, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
U.S. President Biden told the conference: "Climate change is already ravaging the world. We've heard from many speakers. It's not a hypothetical; it's not a hypothetical threat. It's destroying people's lives and livelihoods and doing it every single day. This is the decade that will determine the answer. This decade. The science is clear: We only have a brief window left before us to raise our ambitions."
Touching on the economic opportunity to invest more in clean energy, he highlighted the current European energy crisis due to gas shortages and rocketing power prices as reasons to diversify. "As we see current volatility in energy prices, rather than cast it as a reason to back off our clean energy goals, we must view it as a call to action. High energy prices only reinforce the urgent need to diversify sources, double down on clean energy deployment, and adapt promising new clean-energy technologies so we don't remain overly reliant on one source of power to power our economies and our communities."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
The spotlight is firmly focused on climate change and fossil fuels at COP26, where over 120 heads of state and government gathered, almost six years after the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was signed by more than 165 nations in New York. At the time, they pledged to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to strive for 1.5 degrees.
"The six years since the Paris Agreement [on climate change] have been the six hottest years on record," Guterres noted. "Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice: either we stop it--or it stops us. It's time to say 'enough.' Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves."
Guterres added: "Recent climate action announcements might give the impression that we are on track to turn things around. This is an illusion. The last published report on nationally determined contributions showed that they would still condemn the world to a calamitous 2.7°C increase. And even if the recent pledges were clear and credible--and there are serious questions about some of them--we are still careening towards climate catastrophe. Even in the best-case scenario, temperatures will rise well above 2°C. So, as we open this much anticipated climate conference, we are still heading for climate disaster."
Attendees at COP26 included U.S. President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Australia's Scott Morrison and India's Narendra Modi. Notable by their absence were President Xi Jinping of China, the world's largest emitter, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
U.S. President Biden told the conference: "Climate change is already ravaging the world. We've heard from many speakers. It's not a hypothetical; it's not a hypothetical threat. It's destroying people's lives and livelihoods and doing it every single day. This is the decade that will determine the answer. This decade. The science is clear: We only have a brief window left before us to raise our ambitions."
Touching on the economic opportunity to invest more in clean energy, he highlighted the current European energy crisis due to gas shortages and rocketing power prices as reasons to diversify. "As we see current volatility in energy prices, rather than cast it as a reason to back off our clean energy goals, we must view it as a call to action. High energy prices only reinforce the urgent need to diversify sources, double down on clean energy deployment, and adapt promising new clean-energy technologies so we don't remain overly reliant on one source of power to power our economies and our communities."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
