United Nations’ climate change chief Patricia Espinosa has warned that the barrage of global crises must not deflect attention from urgent climate action, as negotiators from nearly 200 nations began talks in Germany.
Issuing a call for international unity to hold firm, Espinosa told delegates not to lose focus or give up hope as nations face a formidable collection of interrelated challenges, including the war in Ukraine, energy, food and economic crises, as well as the continued impact of the COVID pandemic.
It was “not acceptable to say that we are in challenging times,” she argued, as climate change is also moving exponentially.
“We can no longer afford to make just incremental progress. We must move these negotiations along more quickly. The world expects it,” Espinosa added.
Governments have already accepted that climate change is a grave threat to humanity and the planet, and have advocated immediate action to cut fossil fuel emissions and prepare for the growing impacts of warming. However, as things stand, the world is unlikely to be able to meet the Paris climate deal’s commitment to limit warming “well below” two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and preferably 1.5C.
The disconnect between the scientific evidence of a global crisis in the making versus the lack of action should be a source of deep worry for humanity.
With the world is facing serious problems such as the war in Ukraine, which has roiled energy markets and raised the specter of a global food crisis, it is easy to lose track of the big picture and fail to prioritize the impact of our failure to mitigate the effects of climate change on future generations.
This is where good leadership comes in, as countries led by competent and qualified leaders with vision should be able to keep their priorities in
As delegates to the various summits and negotiations on climate change try to focus the world’s priorities on this crisis that has been brewing even before COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, our local leaders will also have to keep those priorities in mind so we can continue to think globally but act locally as we try to contribute in our own ways.*
