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STORY: UN / GUTERRES EXTREME HEAT CALL TO ACTION
TRT: 05:16
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25 JULY 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Med shot, UN flag
25 JULY 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, speakers walking to podium, journalists, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“This past Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were the three hottest days on record. But let’s face facts: extreme temperatures are no longer a one day, one week or one month phenomenon. If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.”
4. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The World Meteorological Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and others have documented a rapid rise in the scale, intensity, frequency and duration of extreme-heat events. And it comes against a background of ever-rising temperatures – with June officially the 13th consecutive month to break global temperature records.”
6. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Heat is estimated to kill almost half a million people a year, that’s about 30 times more than tropical cyclones. We know what is driving it: fossil fuel-charged, human-induced climate change. And we know it’s going to get worse. Extreme heat is the new abnormal. But the good news is that there are solutions.”
8. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We must respond by massively increasing access to low-carbon cooling; expanding passive cooling – such as natural solutions and urban design; and cleaning up cooling technologies while boosting their efficiency. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that, together, these measures could protect 3.5 billion people by 2050, while slashing emissions and saving consumers $1 trillion a year.”
10. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Heat stress at work is projected to cost the global economy $2.4 trillion by 2030. Up from $280 billion in the mid-1990s. We need measures to protect workers, grounded in human rights. And we must ensure that laws and regulations reflect the reality of extreme heat today – and are enforced. Third, we must massively boost the resilience of economies and societies using data and science.”
12. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
13. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world’s wealthiest countries. In signing such a surge of new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future. The leadership of those with the greatest capabilities and capacities is essential. Countries must phase-out fossil fuels – fast and fairly.”
14. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
15. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The G20 must shift fossil fuel subsidies to renewables and support vulnerable countries and communities. And national climate action plans must show how each country will contribute to the global goals agreed at COP28.”
16. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
17. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a total disaster. And it is a total disaster because it's the combination of two things. First, a military campaign that has the highest level of killing and destruction that I remember in any other military campaign since I am Secretary-General, anywhere in the world.”
18. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
19. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“All the obstacles of a permanent negotiation in which difficulty after difficulty is put in relation to security equipment, in relation to the so-called dual-use items and all other things that are needed for an effective humanitarian aid, with the combination of these obstacles, with the total insecurity in the country, humanitarian aid is far from being sufficient.”
20. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
21. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We absolutely must keep the two-state solution as the only possible long-term solution for peace in the region, independently of whatever is said by whoever, wherever.”
22. Wide shot, UN Secretary-General, spokesperson, journalists
UN chief issued an urgent call to action to better protect billions around the world exposed to crippling effects of extreme heat, as global temperature rise continues unabated.
The UN Secretary-General's call to action on Extreme Heat brings together the diverse expertise and perspectives of ten specialized UN entities (FAO, ILO, OCHA, UNDRR, UNEP, UNESCO, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, WHO, WMO) in a first-of-its-kind joint product, underscoring the multi-sectoral impacts of extreme heat.
Briefing the press today (25 Jul), Guterres said, “This past Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were the three hottest days on record. But let’s face facts: extreme temperatures are no longer a one day, one week or one month phenomenon. If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.”
He added, “The World Meteorological Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and others have documented a rapid rise in the scale, intensity, frequency and duration of extreme-heat events. And it comes against a background of ever-rising temperatures – with June officially the 13th consecutive month to break global temperature records.”
He continued, “Heat is estimated to kill almost half a million people a year, that’s about 30 times more than tropical cyclones. We know what is driving it: fossil fuel-charged, human-induced climate change. And we know it’s going to get worse. Extreme heat is the new abnormal. But the good news is that there are solutions.”
The call for action calls for an urgent and concerted effort to enhance international cooperation to address extreme heat in four critical areas: Caring for the vulnerable - Protecting workers - Boosting resilience of economies and societies using data and science - Limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C by phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up investment in renewable energy.
Guterres said, “We must respond by massively increasing access to low-carbon cooling; expanding passive cooling – such as natural solutions and urban design; and cleaning up cooling technologies while boosting their efficiency. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that, together, these measures could protect 3.5 billion people by 2050, while slashing emissions and saving consumers $1 trillion a year.”
He also said, “Heat stress at work is projected to cost the global economy $2.4 trillion by 2030. Up from $280 billion in the mid-1990s. We need measures to protect workers, grounded in human rights. And we must ensure that laws and regulations reflect the reality of extreme heat today – and are enforced. Third, we must massively boost the resilience of economies and societies using data and science.”
He then called out “the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world’s wealthiest countries. In signing such a surge of new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future. The leadership of those with the greatest capabilities and capacities is essential. Countries must phase-out fossil fuels – fast and fairly.”
He concluded, “The G20 must shift fossil fuel subsidies to renewables and support vulnerable countries and communities. And national climate action plans must show how each country will contribute to the global goals agreed at COP28.”
Answering a question on Gaza, the UN Secretary-General stated, “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a total disaster. And it is a total disaster because it's the combination of two things. First, a military campaign that has the highest level of killing and destruction that I remember in any other military campaign since I am Secretary-General, anywhere in the world.”
He continued, “All the obstacles of a permanent negotiation in which difficulty after difficulty is put in relation to security equipment, in relation to the so-called dual-use items and all other things that are needed for an effective humanitarian aid, with the combination of these obstacles, with the total insecurity in the country, humanitarian aid is far from being sufficient.”
He stressed, “We absolutely must keep the two-state solution as the only possible long-term solution for peace in the region, independently of whatever is said by whoever, wherever.”
