COP26 must act to ‘save humanity’: UN chief

COP26 must act to ‘save humanity’: UN chief

M Mushfiqul Fazal, UN Correspondent

The COP26 climate summit must act to “save humanity” and protect the planet, UN chief Antonio Guterres said at the summit’s opening ceremony, warning that currently “we are digging our own graves”.

The United Nations Secretary-General said countries must keep the Paris deal goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius alive.

Calling for decarbonisation of global economies and the phase out of coal, he said world leaders need “maximum ambition” to make the summit a success.

“It’s time to say: enough,” Guterres told world leaders.

“Enough of brutalising biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves.”-Al Jazeera