United Nations Secretary General António Guterres is urging the world's developed countries to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies and redirect the money to "countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis and to people struggling with rising food and energy prices."
Speaking on Tuesday to the UN General Assembly, Guterres said the world is "in big trouble," and a "winter of global discontent is on the horizon, a cost-of-living crisis is raging, trust is crumbling, inequalities are exploding, and our planet is burning. We have a duty to act and yet we are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction. The international community is not ready or willing to tackle the big dramatic challenges of our age."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Guterres just visited Pakistan, where months of heavy rains caused catastrophic damage, wiping out crops, destroying homes and infrastructure, and leaving at least 1,400 people dead. Pakistan is responsible for not even 1 percent of global carbon emissions, but is experiencing devastation linked to climate change — first from extreme heat in the beginning of the year, and then the rains. "The climate crisis is the defining issue of our time," Guterres said. "It must be the first priority of every government and multilateral organization. And yet climate action is being put on the back burner, despite overwhelming public support around the world."
-
Blue whales have gone silent and it's posing troubling questionsUnder the radar Warming oceans are the answer
-
Acid rain is back: the sequel nobody wantedUnder The Radar A 'forever chemical' in rainwater is reviving a largely forgotten environmental issue
-
Why is the world so divided over plastics?Today's Big Question UN negotiations on first global plastic treaty are at stake, as fossil fuel companies, petrostates and plastic industry work to resist a legal cap on production
-
Tuvalu is being lost to climate change. Other countries will likely follow.Under the Radar Sea level rise is putting islands underwater
-
Massive earthquake sends tsunami across PacificSpeed Read Hundreds of thousands of people in Japan and Hawaii were told to evacuate to higher ground
-
FEMA Urban Search and Rescue chief resignsSpeed Read Ken Pagurek has left the organization, citing 'chaos'
-
Melting glaciers may lead to more volcanic eruptionsUnder the radar We're in for a boom
-
Wildfires destroy historic Grand Canyon lodgeSpeed Read Dozens of structures on the North Rim have succumbed to the Dragon Bravo Fire
