Antonio Guterres told ministers from 40 countries meeting to discuss the climate crisis on Monday: “Half of humanity is in the danger zone, from floods, droughts, extreme storms and forest fires. No nation is immune. Yet we continue to fuel our addiction to fossil fuels.” He added: “We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It’s in our hands.” Wildfires raged over the weekend across Europe and North America. In South America, the archaeological site of Machu Picchu was threatened by fire. Extreme heat has broken records around the world in recent months, as heat waves lashed India and southern Asia, droughts ravaged parts of Africa and unprecedented heatwaves at both poles surprised scientists at the same time in March. In the UK, an extreme heat warning has been issued with the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the UK expected on Monday and highs of over 40C forecast in some places. Ministers meeting in Berlin for a two-day climate conference, known as the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, will discuss extreme weather, as well as rising fossil fuel and food prices, and the effects of the climate crisis. The meeting, convened annually for the past 13 years by the German government, marks one of the last opportunities to reach an agreement between key countries before the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt in November. Alok Sharma, who chaired the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow last November, will be absent from the Berlin conference, although he will participate in many meetings virtually. He must remain in London to vote in the Conservative party leadership contest, which will determine who succeeds Boris Johnson as UK prime minister. The UK still holds the presidency of the UN talks until Egypt takes over the mantle, and Sharma’s absence has raised eyebrows among some participants. Antonio Guterres: “We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hand “. Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Rex/Shutterstock The outlook for Cop27 has dimmed significantly in recent months as rising energy and food prices have plunged governments into an inflationary cost-of-living crisis, caused in part by the phasing out of the Covid-19 pandemic and exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. At Cop26, countries agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but the commitments they made were still insufficient to do so. All countries agreed this year to present improved national plans for greenhouse gas emissions, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission, who leads the EU bloc at the UN climate talks, played down expectations for the conference in an interview with the Guardian. “I don’t see that many new NDCs on the horizon, frankly,” he said, pointing to Australia, with its new government, as a rare exception. Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister and president of Cop27, will attend the Berlin talks this week, but his presence will be overshadowed by concerns over Egypt’s recently submitted NDC. The plan disappointed many observers, who had hoped for much higher levels of ambition to set an example for other emerging economies. Guterres has also sharply criticized “multilateral development banks,” institutions including the World Bank funded by taxpayers in the rich world to provide aid to poor countries. He said they were not fit for purpose in providing the finance needed for the climate crisis and needed to be reformed. He said: “As shareholders of multilateral development banks, developed countries must demand the immediate delivery of investment and aid needed to expand renewable energy and build climate resilience in developing countries. Require these banks to become fit for use. Demand that they change their tired frameworks and policies to take more risk… Let’s show developing countries that they can rely on their partners.”
