Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / CLIMATE CHANGE JULY WRAP
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / CLIMATE CHANGE JULY WRAP
TRT: 04:38
SOURCE: UNIFEED / OHCHR / IMO / UNTV CH / WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: FILE
FILE - RECENT – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
FILE - 27 JULY 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived. The air is unbreathable. The heat is unbearable. And the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“No more greenwashing. No more deception. And no more abusive distortion of anti-trust laws to sabotage net zero alliances.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
FILE – WHO - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
7. Wide shot, exterior, WHO Headquarters
FILE – WHO - 19 JULY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
8. Wide shot, briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Many countries in the northern hemisphere are now experiencing extreme heat, driven by the El Niño weather pattern and climate change. Two weeks ago, we saw the hottest day on record. Extreme heat takes the greatest toll on those least able to manage its consequences, such as older people, infants and children, and the poor and homeless. It also puts increased pressure on health systems.”
10. Wide shot, briefing room
FILE – UNTV CH – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
11. Wide shot, exterior, UN Palais with flags
FILE – UNTV CH – 10 JULY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
12. Wide shot, press conference room
13.SOUNDBITE (English) Omar Baddour, Chief of Climate Monitoring, World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
“The first week of July, starting from the 4th to the 7th, could be considered as the warmest period or the warmest week ever recorded.”
14. Med shot, photographer taking pictures at the press conference
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Sparrow, Chief of World Climate Research Programme:
“It really is completely unprecedented where this kind of reduction in sea ice that we have seen around the Antarctic. The Antarctic region is normally thought of being relatively stable, it is much colder than the Arctic. We’re used to seeing, you know, these big reductions in the sea ice in the Arctic but not in the Antarctic.”
16. Med shot, attendees taking notes
FILE – UNTV CH – 27 JULY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
17. Wide shot, podium with speakers in Press briefing room, Palais des Nations.
18. Close up, journalist taking notes
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Chris Hewitt, Director of Climate Services, World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
“So, an almost certain likelihood that one of the next five years will be the warmest on record and a 66 percent chance – and more likely than not - of temporarily exceeding the 1.5C above pre-industrial for at least one of the five years.”
20. Close up cameras
FILE – UNTV CH – 18 JULY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
21. Med shot, speakers behind panel
22. SOUNDBITE (English) John Nairn, Senior Extreme Heat Advisor, World Meteorological Organization (WMO):
“These are not your normal weather systems of the past. They have arrived as a consequence of climate change. You are losing the North Pole ice, and that is reinforcing that mechanism. It will continue, and it will continue for some time. You have to reverse it. You have to do climate repair to change it. So, it is global warming and is going to continue for some time.”
23. Med shot, attendee, screen with speakers
FILE – OHCHR – 03 JULY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
24. Wide shot, Meeting room
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR):
“On our current course, the average temperature increase by the end of this century will be 3° Celsius, and our ecosystems – our air, our food, our water, and human life itself – would be unrecognizable.”
26. Various shots, participants
FILE – IMO - 07 JULY 2023, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
27. Pan right, exterior IMO Headquarters
28. Various shots, delegates at plenary room
29. Wide shot, speakers at podium and delegates clapping for adoption
FILE – UNDATED -FELIXSTOWE PORT, UNITED KINGDOM
30. Various shots, ship, cargo, sea
As July 2023 became the hottest month ever recorded, and just months away from COP 28, being held in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December, United Nations officials spoke about the need to step up climate action and climate justice.
Speaking to reporters on 27 July in New York, Secretary-General António Guterres said “climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning.”
July saw the hottest three-week period ever recorded; the three hottest days on record; and the highest-ever ocean temperatures for this time of year.
Guterres said, “the era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived. The air is unbreathable. The heat is unbearable. And the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable.”
Guterres said, “no more greenwashing. No more deception. And no more abusive distortion of anti-trust laws to sabotage net zero alliances.”
Guterres stressed that developed countries must honour their commitments to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries for climate support and fully replenish the Green Climate Fund.
Briefing journalists on 19 July in Geneva, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “many countries in the northern hemisphere are now experiencing extreme heat, driven by the El Niño weather pattern and climate change. Two weeks ago, we saw the hottest day on record. Extreme heat takes the greatest toll on those least able to manage its consequences, such as older people, infants and children, and the poor and homeless. It also puts increased pressure on health systems.”
In collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), WHO is supporting countries to develop Heat Health Action Plans to coordinate preparedness and reduce the impacts of excessive heat on health.
Global sea surface temperatures reached a record high in May, June and July – and the warming El Niño weather pattern is only just getting started - experts at the WMO said on 10 July.
Alarm bells have been at the UN agency in particular because of an “unprecedented” peak in sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic.
The first week of July “could be considered as the warmest period or the warmest week ever recorded,” – with a global average temperature close to 17.24 degrees Celsius on 4 and 7 July, said Omar Baddour, Chief of Climate Monitoring at WMO.
Michael Sparrow, Chief of WMO’s World Climate Research Programme, highlighted that “it really is completely unprecedented where this kind of reduction in sea ice that we have seen around the Antarctic. The Antarctic region is normally thought of being relatively stable, it is much colder than the Arctic. We’re used to seeing, these big reductions in the sea ice in the Arctic but not in the Antarctic.”
Beyond Antarctica, the UN agency warned that the marine heatwave would also impact fisheries distribution and ocean ecosystems, with knock-on effects on the climate. It is not only the surface temperature of the water, but the whole ocean is becoming warmer and absorbing energy that will remain there for hundreds of years, explained WMO.
In Geneva, on 27 July Chris Hewitt, Director of Climate Services at the WMO explained that there was “an almost certain likelihood” that one of the next five years will be the warmest on record.
Equally concerning, he said is the clear indication that there is now a 66 percent chance that global average temperatures will “temporarily” exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels “for at least one of the five years”, Hewitt continued.
As global temperatures reached unprecedented levels, the WMO on 18 July warned of an increased risk of death as intense heatwaves continued to grip parts of Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the United States.
According to WMO, this year’s extensive and intense heatwaves are alarming - but not unexpected - as they are in line with forecasts.
Scorching conditions “are not your normal weather systems of the past” and are with us “as a consequence of climate change,” John Nairn, WMO’s Senior Extreme Heat Advisor insisted.
“You are losing the North Pole ice, and that is reinforcing that mechanism. It will continue, and it will continue for some time.”
Temperatures in North America, Asia, and across North Africa and the Mediterranean stayed above 40° C for a prolonged number of days.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on 3 July delivered a stark warning about the risk climate change poses to people’s right to food. He said, “On our current course, the average temperature increase by the end of this century will be 3° Celsius, and our ecosystems – our air, our food, our water, and human life itself – would be unrecognizable.”
Already, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, weather extremes related to climate change have damaged the productivity of all agricultural and fishery sectors, with negative consequences for people’s food security and livelihoods. Currently, this impact is worst for small-scale farmers, and for people in Africa below the Sahara; across Asia, in small island States, and in Central and South America.
And on 7 July, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a revised strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping.
Member States of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), meeting at the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80), adopted the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from ships, with enhanced targets to tackle harmful emissions.
The revised IMO GHG Strategy includes an enhanced common ambition to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping close to 2050, a commitment to ensure uptake of alternative zero and near-zero GHG fuels by 2030, as well as indicative checkpoints for 2030 and 2040.
