The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, along with the COP26 United Kingdom President, Alok Sharma, briefed the Member States on the road to Glasgow. 

The Secretary-General stressed the need to further expand the growing coalition for carbon neutrality - countries that have set a target for reaching net zero emissions by 2050 backed by ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions. He also stressed the importance of virtual negotiations in the months ahead to overcome the constraints imposed by the pandemic.

“We need more ambition, more ambition on mitigation, ambition on adaptation and ambition on finance,” to achieve goals set by the Paris Climate Agreement, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday (8 Feb).

“The world remains way off target in staying within the 1.5-degree limit of the Paris Agreement,” Guterres warned. “The global coalition for net zero emissions needs to grow, to cover more than 90 per cent of the emissions. This is a central objective for the United Nations this year.”

The Secretary-General, along with the COP26 President, UK’s Alok Sharma, was briefing the Member States on the road to Glasgow, where in November this year the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) will take place

The Secretary-General stressed the need to further expand the growing coalition for carbon neutrality - countries that have set a target for reaching net zero emissions by 2050 backed by ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions. He also stressed the importance of virtual negotiations in the months ahead to overcome the constraints imposed by the pandemic.

“Words are not enough.” Guterres said. “By COP26 at the latest, all countries need to come forward with significantly more ambitious nationally determined contributions, with 2030 targets consistent with a net zero pathway.”

He called for “the major economies and members of the G20” to lead the way and for the support for developing countries, “particularly the Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries,” in order for them to “enhance their climate ambition.”

“I count in particular on G7 countries to deliver. The Green Climate Fund must also be fully capitalized. We need all Multilateral and National Development Banks to commit to full Paris alignment by 2024 at the latest. And we also need to effectively address debt relief efforts to provide liquidity to countries most vulnerable to climate change and this is an effort we have been very closely following in the context of the recovery of COVID-19.,” he said.

Alok Sharma, President of COP26 said “we must have solution and prepare the ground ahead of COP 26 so that we arrive in Glasgow ready to close a deal. Last year we did made progress virtually despite the pandemic. We had events like the UN Climate Change Dialogue and others. But this year cannot be simply a repeat of the last.”