UN chief warns global warming continues, 1.5-degrees limit 'on life support'

UNITED NATIONS - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that global warming continues and the most ambitious goal of the 2015 Paris accord -- to limit Earth's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels -- is "on life support".

"The 1.5-degrees limit is on life support, and it is fading fast," the top UN official told reporters after he concluded two meetings with many heads of state and government to talk about the climate emergency and the triple global crisis of food, energy and finance.

"You have all seen the appalling images from Pakistan. This is happening at just 1.2 degrees of global warming," said the secretary-general.

"We are headed for over 3 degrees," he warned.

Guterres said that he told the assembled leaders that "we need their action, their leadership, now".

"First, more ambition on mitigation to keep 1.5 alive. Emissions must decline by 45 percent before 2030. Current commitments will see them rise by 14 percent," he said.

Guterres said that he particularly called on G20 leadership "to end our fossil fuel addiction".

On financing, the top UN official called for efforts to "deliver in full" commitments to the developing countries. "The world needs clarity on how developed countries will deliver the 100 billion US dollars a year."

"I emphasized the need to double adaptation support to 40 billion dollars a year by 2025," he added.

Turning to food security, Guterres said "without enough fertilizers, next year's harvest may not be enough to feed the world".

"We need international cooperation and solidarity to bring down prices, increase support to developing countries, including through social protection floors, and to prevent a larger crisis next year," he said.

Guterres called on international financial institutions to step up support for developing countries. "They need immediate debt relief," he said.