COP27: ‘Climate chaos’ warning as UN summit begins
By Esme Stallard for the BBC
The UN’s climate change summit has opened in Egypt with a warning that our planet is “sending a distress signal”.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was responding to a UN report released on Sunday saying the past eight years were on track to be the warmest on record.
More than 120 world leaders are due to arrive at the summit known as COP27, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
This will kick off two weeks of negotiations between countries on climate action.
COP27 president, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, urged leaders to not let food and energy crises related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine get in the way of action on climate change.
“It is inherent on us all in Sharm el-Sheikh to demonstrate our recognition of the magnitude of the challenges we face and our steadfast resolve to overcome it.”
The need for action was laid bare in the latest report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization.
Mr Guterres sent a video message to the conference in which he called the the State of the Global Climate Report 2022 a “chronicle of climate chaos”.
In it, scientists estimate that global temperatures have now risen by 1.15C since pre-industrial times and said the latest eight years were on track to be the warmest on record.
Read the full article here
