The top UN climate official used jarring, controversial framing in a stark speech in London on Wednesday, claiming we only have “two years left to save the world.”
Simon Stiell’s speech laid out the stakes for meeting the Paris targets before multiple international gatherings, elections and deadlines, starting with World Bank-IMF spring meetings next week.
The headline of his talk at the Chatham House think tank is garnering the most attention.
His presentation risks straying into the land of climate doomers, but it is about the timeline of the Paris Agreement, not evidence showing the globe has a two-year window to avert climate catastrophe.
The accord calls for countries to submit their next national climate targets by 2025, covering the period out to 2035.
Stiell made the case for stronger pre-2030 targets to be made ASAP, noting current plans “in aggregate would barely cut emissions at all by 2030.”
Significantly, Stiell also called for a “new deal” on climate finance to be negotiated at COP 29 in Baku.
It would provide vastly more abundant and flexible funding to help countries withstand climate impacts and transition away from fossil fuels, he said.
In a message with relevance to the U.S., he said demand-side measures, such as carbon pricing, are needed to “speed up the decline of fossil fuels.”
He also warned against governments, and voters, deemphasizing climate ahead of pivotal elections.
