We’re on a ‘highway to climate hell,' UN chief Guterres says, calling for a global phase-out of coal

The United Nations caput wide issued a stark informing Monday, telling attendees astatine the COP27 acme that the satellite was losing its combat against clime alteration and repeating his telephone to phase-out ember by the twelvemonth 2040.

"We are successful the combat of our lives, and we are losing," Antonio Guterres said.

"Greenhouse state emissions support growing, planetary temperatures support rising, and our satellite is accelerated approaching tipping points that volition marque clime chaos irreversible," Guterres, who was speaking successful Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, added.

"We are connected a road to clime hellhole with our ft inactive connected the accelerator."

Expanding connected his point, the ex-prime curate of Portugal said the warfare Ukraine and different conflicts had "caused truthful overmuch bloodshed and unit and had melodramatic impacts each implicit the world."

"But we cannot … judge that our attraction is not focused connected clime change."

While collaboration was needed to bolster bid efforts and extremity "tremendous suffering," clime alteration was "on a antithetic timeline, and a antithetic scale."

"It is the defining contented of our age. It is the cardinal situation of our century. It is unacceptable, outrageous and self-defeating to enactment it connected the backmost burner."

Many of the conflicts taking spot astir the world, Guterres said, were "linked with increasing clime chaos."

The warfare successful Ukraine had exposed "the profound risks of our fossil substance addiction" and the crises of contiguous could not, helium argued, beryllium utilized arsenic an excuse for "backsliding oregon greenwashing."

The clime occupation had been caused by quality activity, truthful the solution laic successful quality action, Guterres said.

"The subject is clear: Any anticipation of limiting somesthesia emergence to 1.5 degrees means achieving planetary net-zero emissions by 2050," helium aboriginal added. "But that 1.5 grade extremity is connected beingness enactment — and the machines are rattling."

The notation to 1.5 degrees is simply a motion to 2015's Paris Agreement, which aims to "limit planetary warming to good beneath 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels."

Cutting human-made c dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050 is seen arsenic important erstwhile it comes to gathering the 1.5 degrees Celsius target.

Guterres told those attending COP27 that the constituent of nary instrumentality was present dangerously close. "To debar that dire fate, each G-20 countries indispensable accelerate their modulation now."

"Developed countries indispensable instrumentality the leads, but emerging economies are besides captious to bending the planetary emissions curve," helium added. He called for the instauration of a Climate Solidarity Pact "between developed and processing economies, and particularly developed and emerging economies."

Among different things, Guterres said the pact would spot countries undertake other efforts to chopped emissions this decennary and besides "end dependence connected fossil fuels and the gathering of caller ember plants — phasing retired ember successful OECD countries by 2030 and everyplace other by 2040."

Guterres has previously called for a phase-out of coal, a fossil substance that has a important effect connected the environment.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration lists a scope of emissions from ember combustion, including c dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides. It has been described by Greenpeace arsenic "the dirtiest, astir polluting mode of producing energy."

Coal has proved to beryllium a contentious taxable astatine clime alteration conferences.

At past year's COP26 summit, India and China, some among the world's biggest burners of coal, insisted connected a last-minute alteration of fossil substance connection successful the Glasgow Climate Pact — from a "phase out" of ember to a "phase down." After archetypal objections, opposing countries yet conceded.

Back successful Egypt, Guterres said the U.S. and China some had "a peculiar work to articulation efforts to marque this pact a reality."

"Humanity has a choice," helium aboriginal added. "Cooperate oregon perish. It is either a Climate Solidarity Pact, oregon a Collective Suicide Pact."

—CNBC's Sam Meredith contributed to this report