UN: Climate crisis moving rapidly, but response slow

Tokyo — Simon Stiell, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), warned on Monday that progress in tackling the climate crisis is moving ‘too slowly’ and that damages from climate impacts are occurring ‘more rapidly.’ While acknowledging a number of achievements since the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, he stressed in an interview with Kyodo News that the world is not ‘on track to reach the crucial 1.5°C warming limit.’ The target refers to the agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels under the Paris Agreement. ‘So we really have two choices… The first is whether we strengthen climate cooperation, or we suffer,’ he said. Regarding the energy crisis triggered by the war led by the United States and Israel against Iran, he said that government subsidies for petrol and other fuels can ‘slow’ the transition away from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, when asked about the impact of the United States’ withdrawal from international climate efforts, Stiell said the door remains open, emphasising that ‘they have left once before and returned,’ and that the private sector in that country remains actively involved.