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DAVOS / GUTERRES CLIMATE CHANGE
STORY: DAVOS / GUTERRES CLIMATE CHANGE
TRT: 1:59
SOURCE: WEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 23 JANUARY 2020, DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
23 JANUARY 2020, DAVOS, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Guterres walking onto stage
2. Wide shot, Klaus Schwab introducing Guterres
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“It is absolutely essential to recognize that climate change is an existential threat to us all, and that climate change is running faster than what we are. We are not winning this war, and we absolutely must do it. I know that for some people there is this idea ‘well climate change is probably something to take into account in the future, and the planet is very resilient. And the planet will not be destroyed.’ I fully agree. The planet will not be destroyed. In the next few centuries and millennia, we’ll see the planet around the sun. What will be destroyed is our capacity to live in this planet. We will be destroyed by climate change not the planet. And this will be for us a clear indication that we absolutely need to change course.”
4. Wide shot, Børge Brende asking Guterres a question
5. Close up, Børge Brende
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The big emitters are absolutely essential because if the big emitters do not rally the group of carbon neutrality 2050 we will be doomed; because they represent a very important share. The G20 represents 80 per cent on the emissions that contribute to climate change. And so, it is in the big emitters, and namely in some aspects like the addiction to coal – particularly in Asia – that we need to act in order to make sure that we do not become doomed in all the efforts that the international community is doing.”
7. Wide shots, Brende and Guterres on stage
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the world is “doomed” in the face of climate change unless major industrial nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaking at the Forum on Thursday (23 Jan), Guterres said it was “absolutely essential to recognize that climate change is an existential threat to us all, and that climate change is running faster than what we are.” He said climate change is the defining issue of our time, adding that with a physical limit on development for the first time in history, humankind has declared war on nature and nature is striking back in a violent way. He added, “We are not winning this war, and we absolutely must do it.”
The UN chief said some people believe that climate change is something to take into account in the future, and that the planet is very resilient and thus would not be destroyed. He stressed, “I fully agree. The planet will not be destroyed. In the next few centuries and millennia, we’ll see the planet around the sun. What will be destroyed is our capacity to live in this planet. We will be destroyed by climate change not the planet. And this will be for us a clear indication that we absolutely need to change course.”
The UN chief observed that while many smaller developing countries and the European Union have committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, “the big emitters” have yet to act.
If the big emitters do not rally around the principle of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, “we will be doomed because they represent a very important share,” Guterres said.
“The G20 represents 80 per cent of the emissions that contribute to climate change.” He added, “it is in the big emitters, and namely in some aspects like the addiction to coal – particularly in Asia – that we need to act in order to make sure that we do not become doomed in all the efforts that the international community is doing.”
Guterres said Governments can take steps to help move the world towards a greener future, such as cutting subsidies for fossil fuels. He underscored the need to put a price on carbon and shift from the taxing of income to taxing carbon.
Guterres said he is encouraged by private sector commitment to the environment, as evidenced by increasing numbers of financial institutions and asset managers making carbon neutrality a priority in their investments.
Similarly, cities, voters and young people have been mobilizing for action. Guterres said he was hopeful that it would be possible to mobilize both the private sector and public authorities to take transformational decisions in the way we produce our food, power our economy, and plan our cities to reach the objectives that the scientific community tells us we must achieve.
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