UN climate chief warns: We have two more years to save the planet

(Patria) - Governments, the business world and development banks have just two more years to take action to avoid much worse climate change, the UN climate chief warned yesterday.

Scientists say that by 2030 it is necessary to halve emissions of harmful greenhouse gases to prevent a temperature rise of more than 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial period.

Failure would cause extreme weather conditions and heat.

Despite this, carbon dioxide emissions rose to a record level last year, and current state pledges to fight climate change, if fulfilled, would only slightly reduce global emissions by 2030.

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), warned that the next two years are "crucial for saving our planet."

- We still have an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a new generation of national climate plans. But we need stronger plans, now - Stiell said.

Speaking at a conference of the think tank Chatham House in London, Stiell said that G20 countries together are responsible for more than 80 percent of global emissions, and therefore must act urgently.

The main goal of this year's UN climate change negotiations is to reach an agreement on financing developing countries that have difficulties in transitioning from fossil fuels.

Stiell emphasized that money can be secured through debt relief, cheaper borrowing for poorer countries, new sources of international financing such as a tax on transport emissions, and reform of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

- Every day, finance ministers, directors, investors, climate and development bankers direct billions of dollars. It is time to redirect those dollars - Stiell stressed.

In a 'super-election' year in which voters are casting ballots from India, South Africa, Europe to the United States, Stiell said that climate measures too often "fall off the agenda of governments."

Politicians like Republican candidate Donald Trump or far-right parties in the upcoming European elections reject climate policies to curry favor with voters.