UN chief highlights exacerbating climate crisis, citing huge jump in ocean heat

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday highlighted the exacerbating climate crisis during his New Year press conference, citing recent studies including one that reveals a huge jump in ocean heat.

Guterres dedicated the major part of his opening remarks at the press conference to addressing the severity of the climate crisis.

Last year, ocean heat and mean sea level reached their highest on record, said the secretary-general. "Scientists tell us that ocean temperatures are now rising at the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs a second."

He went on to cite a recent study that found ocean heat in 2019 was 228 Zetta Joules above the 1981-2010 average, explaining "a Zetta is a '1' followed by 21 zeroes."

To put that in context, he said this rise in ocean heat last year is more than 20 times the amount of energy humanity has consumed since 2000.

He further cited a new climate crisis alert by the World Meteorological Organization Tuesday, which indicated that carbon dioxide concentrations will reach new highs in 2020.

To avert the trend, Guterres called on all countries to "show more ambition on adaptation, mitigation and finance" at the next UN climate conference set for November 2020 in Glasgow.

"Big emitters must lead the way," he stressed, adding that the world needs to put a price on carbon and end subsidies for fossil fuels.