Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 2 December, UN Secretary General António Guterres made a special report at Columbia University (USA) on the state of the planet, in which he called for the expansion of the international community’s actions to prevent climate change.

I. As noted by the world media, the speech of the UN head was emotional and harsh. Already at the beginning of his speech, A. Guterres accused humanity of "unleashing a war against nature", which led to a disastrous result. He called it "suicide", since "nature always strikes back and does so with growing strength and fury."

According to UN estimates, biological diversity is being destroyed, and a million species are under threat of extinction. Up to 10 million hectares of forest are lost every year. Air and water pollution kill 9 million people every year, more than 6 times the current losses from the pandemic.

The world, according to the Secretary General, has approached the line behind which there is a "climatic catastrophe", the impact of which is already felt in the form of apocalyptic fires and floods, cyclones and hurricanes that have become the "new normal".

According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2020 is the warmest summer on record (since 1850). The last decade has been the warmest in human history. World oceans have reached record highs and, in the Arctic, have risen by 3 ° C, causing record ice melting.

The Secretary General noted that the climate strategies adopted by the countries did not match the scale of the problems. For example, emissions are now 62% higher than in 1990, when the international climate talks began.

According to Climate Action Tracker, if all of the zero-level promises made by governments are kept, temperatures will rise by about 2.1 ° C from pre-industrial levels. This exceeds the upper limit set by the Paris Agreement to maintain temperatures by no more than 2 ° C, which is considered a safety limit beyond which climate disruption could become catastrophic and irreversible.

Rather than cutting fossil fuels production by about 6% annually through 2030, "the world is moving in the opposite direction" and is targeting 2% annual growth. At the same time, A. Guterres noted that “those who least contributed to the problem are most affected,” and the consequences of climate change hinder efforts to eradicate poverty.

About 70% of the most climate-vulnerable countries are among the weakest countries.

The UN chief acknowledged that the world has not achieved any of the global biodiversity targets set for 2020. He stressed that "there is no vaccine for the planet." The Secretary General called on all countries to save nature and turn this momentum into a global movement. According to him, “the time has come to press the green button, reset and transform the global economy” into an environmentally friendly, renewable energy source.

Presenting his vision in solving the climate crisis, A. Guterres drew attention to the "three imperatives".

First, achieve global carbon neutrality over the next three decades. To do this, "every country, city, financial institution and company must adopt plans to reach zero emissions by 2050".

Second, secure global funding for the Paris Agreement measures: set a price for carbon emissions, stop investing in fossil fuels, phase out fossil fuel subsidies, stop building new coal-fired power plants, and shift the financial base from taxing revenues to taxing pollution.

Third, achieve a breakthrough in adaptation to protect the world from climate impacts: using early warning systems, building climate-resilient infrastructure, improving rainfed agriculture efficiency, and more.

To date, adaptation has accounted for only 20% of climate finance, on average in 2017 and 2018. About US$30 billion was allocated for adaptation.

II. Commenting on the speech of the UN Secretary General, experts point to its programmatic nature and practical orientation.

Thus, Canada’s National Observer draws attention to the background of this message, which followed at the end of the year "global shocks" associated with a pandemic, record wildfires, hurricanes and storms.

In this regard, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs notes that this speech is historic and lays the foundation for scaling up efforts to combat climate change in the coming year.

This is also indicated by TeleSUR, who agreed that although A. Guterres, like his two predecessors, often spoke about the dangers of the climate crisis, this time he intends to mobilize the entire world community.

At the same time, BBC observers acknowledge that for a global economy that continues to rely on oil, gas and coal for energy, the transition to "zero production" by 2050 represents a tectonic shift.

To give the necessary impetus to the fight against climate change, the UN chief gave interviews to CBS News, The Times of India, El País and other media. He informed that the speech marks the start of a month of UN-led climate change action, which includes the publication of reports on global climate and fossil fuel production. These efforts will culminate in the Climate Ambition Summit, which will be held on December 12, 2020, the fifth anniversary of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

In addition, A. Guterres announced that he plans to announce the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration in 2021. The UK and Italy will also host major international climate conferences. The Guardian cites the words of A. Guterres, in which he admits that survival is "impossible" without the United States joining the Paris Agreement, in connection with which he has already talked with J. Biden.

In general, the speech of the UN Secretary General did not happen by chance during the formation of the strategic priorities of the new US administration. Probably A. Guterres intends to join the efforts of Washington, the EU and other developed countries in order to achieve long-term solutions on climate commitments in the world in 2021.