Coal is a ‘stupid investment’: UN chief Antonio Guterres

The U.N. Secretary General issued a stark warning Monday, saying the planet had emerged from last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow with “a certain naïve optimism” and was “sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.”

In remarks delivered to The Economist’s Sustainability Week via video link, Antonio Guterres sketched out a picture of where he felt the world stood when it came to tackling global warming.

He noted that while COP26 had seen positive developments related to issues such as cutting methane emissions, tackling deforestation and mobilizing private finance, significant challenges remained.

“Keeping 1.5 alive requires a 45% reduction in global emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by mid-century,” he said. “That problem was not solved in Glasgow. In fact, the problem is getting worse.”

Guterres’ reference to 1.5 relates to the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global warming “to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.”

The Paris Agreement was reached at the COP21 climate change summit in December 2015. More than six years on, it would appear that, for Guterres, a huge amount of work still needs to be done.

“According to present national commitments, global emissions are set to increase by almost 14% in the 2020s,” he said. “Last year alone, global energy-related CO2 emissions grew by 6% to their highest levels in history. Coal emissions have surged to record highs. We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.”

On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the wide-ranging effects this could have, Guterres offered up an equally stark assessment. He said that “the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets, with major implications for the global climate agenda.”

“As major economies pursue an ‘all-of-the-above’ strategy to replace Russian fossil fuels, short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5 degrees.”

“Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use. And this is madness: addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.”

Guterres’ comments come at a time when several major economies, including the European Union, are trying to find ways to reduce their reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.

Last week, the International Energy Agency said speed limits on highways should be cut by at least 10 kilometers per hour (6.2 mph) to help lower oil demand. The recommendation was part of a wider 10-point plan published by the Paris-based organization.

In his speech Monday, Guterres also said that “those in the private sector still financing coal must … be held to account.”

“Their support for coal not only could cost the world its climate goals,” he said. “It’s a stupid investment —…