UN / WMO UNITED IN SCIENCE REPORT

UN chief António Guterres said the “consequences of our failure to get to grips with the climate emergency are everywhere,” and stressed that climate action “is the only way to ensure a liveable planet for this and future generations.” UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:40
• Production Date: 9 September 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: ANTONIO GUTERRES
• Corporate Name: WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION - WMO
• Subject Topical: CLIMATE CHANGE
• MAMS Id: 2556653
• Parent Id: 2556653
• Alternate Title: unifeed200909d

Description

STORY: UN / WMO UNITED IN SCIENCE REPORT
TRT: 2:40
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 09 SEPTEMBER 2020, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters exterior

JULY 2020, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. Wide shot, Guterres at dais
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The consequences of our failure to get to grips with the climate emergency are everywhere. Record heatwaves. Devastating wildfires, floods and droughts. And these challenges are only going to get worse. As this report emphasizes, because of past emissions, we are locked into further heating. There is no time to delay if we are to slow the trend and limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Climate action is the only way to ensure a liveable planet for this and future generations. Whether we are tackling a pandemic or the climate crisis, it is clear that we need science, solidarity and decisive solutions. We have a choice: business as usual, leading to further calamity; or we can use the recovery from COVID-19 to provide a real opportunity to put the world on a sustainable path.”
5. Wide shot, reporters
6. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
"The spread of wildfires has a double impact. On one hand, it is a result largely - its acceleration is a result of climate change, but on the other hand it contributes to climate change. It releases CO2, and it destroys forests that is an absolutely essential instrument to sink CO2. So, the link between climate change and the destruction of forests is a devastating one. And we need, quickly, to reverse this trend and create a virtuous circle and not a vicious circle. And this is one reason more for us to feel a very strong sense of urgency."
7. Wide shot, reporters
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General, World Meteorological Organization:
"And besides climate mitigation, we have to invest in climate adaptation. This is highly important, and that's a challenge for the governments how to protect the people when we have growing amount of heatwaves and how to ensure, for example food security and water resource availability in the coexistence of changing environment. So, we have the two challenges. We have to at the same time mitigate the climate change - this is going to be key to the long-term solution - but in the coming decades, we have to also pay attention to adaptation."
9. Wide shot, Guterres at dais

Storyline

UN chief António Guterres said the “consequences of our failure to get to grips with the climate emergency are everywhere,” and stressed that climate action “is the only way to ensure a liveable planet for this and future generations.”

In a joint press conference with the head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Guterres said the world has witnessed devastating wildfires, floods and drought, adding that these challenges “are only going to get worse.”

The two leaders were launching the ‘United in Science” report, which Guterres described as a catalogue of a climate crisis that is worsening by the hour. The report found that greenhouse gas concentrations reached new record highs in 2020 and the five-year period since the since the signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change will be the hottest on human record, with average global temperatures of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels. The report also highlighted that there is a significant and growing chance of temporarily reaching the 1.5-degree threshold in the coming five years.

Guterres said the world remains far off track to meet the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. He said, “As this report emphasizes, because of past emissions, we are locked into further heating. There is no time to delay if we are to slow the trend and limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. Climate action is the only way to ensure a liveable planet for this and future generations. Whether we are tackling a pandemic or the climate crisis, it is clear that we need science, solidarity and decisive solutions. We have a choice: business as usual, leading to further calamity; or we can use the recovery from COVID-19 to provide a real opportunity to put the world on a sustainable path.”
Responding to question, the UN chief said the spread of wildfires has a double impact. He explained, “On one hand, it is a result largely - its acceleration is a result of climate change, but on the other hand it contributes to climate change. It releases CO2, and it destroys forests that is an absolutely essential instrument to sink CO2. So, the link between climate change and the destruction of forests is a devastating one. And we need, quickly, to reverse this trend and create a virtuous circle and not a vicious circle. And this is one reason more for us to feel a very strong sense of urgency."

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas stressed the need to invest in climate adaptation while mitigating the climate crisis. He said governments face the challenge of protecting their people with the growing number of heat waves and ensuring food security and water resource availability. He said, “We have to at the same time mitigate the climate change - this is going to be key to the long-term solution - but in the coming decades, we have to also pay attention to adaptation."