Climate change dominates agenda as world leaders convene at United Nations

By Seth Borenstein Sep. 22, 2019


UNITED NATIONS — Saying humanity is waging war with the planet, the head of the United Nations isn’t planning to let just any world leader speak about climate change at Monday’s special “action summit.”

Only those with new, specific and bold plans can command the podium and the ever-warming world’s attention, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

So sit down, Brazil. Sit down, Saudi Arabia. Sit down, Poland.

“People can only speak if they come with positive steps. That is kind of a ticket,” Guterres said. “For bad news, don’t come.”

As if to underscore the seriousness of the problem, the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization released a report Sunday showing that in the last several years, warming, sea level rise and carbon pollution have all accelerated.

Brazil’s, Poland’s and Saudi Arabia’s proposals for dealing with climate change fell short, so they’re not on Monday’s summit schedule. The United States didn’t even bother, according to a U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The bar isn’t that high: Leaders from 64 nations, the European Union and more than a dozen companies and banks will present plans at the secretary-general’s Climate Action Summit.

Guterres wants nations to be carbon-neutral by 2050 — in other words, they will not add more heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the air than are removed by plants and perhaps technology each year. On Sunday, 87 countries around the world pledged to decarbonize in a way consistent with one of the international community’s tightest temperature goals.

There is a sense of urgency, Guterres said, because “climate change is the defining issue of our time.”

“For the first time, there is a serious conflict between people and nature, between people and the planet,” Guterres said.

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