UN chief calls for action on COVID-19, climate

The United Nations chief warned Friday that the world is moving in the wrong direction and exhorted nations to take urgent action to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

“COVID-19 is a wake-up call, and we are oversleeping,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at a press conference.

Speaking ahead of the UN General Assembly that kicks off in New York on September 21, Guterres lamented that vaccine-manufacturing nations have been unable to ramp up production toward the goal of vaccinating some 70 percent of the world population by the first half of 2022.

“The pandemic has demonstrated our collective failure to come together and make joint decisions for the common good, even in the face of an immediate, life-threatening global emergency,” Guterres said.

Guterres dismissed calls to delay a major UN climate summit, known as COP26, due to take place in Scotland in November. Climate activists have called for postponing the event due to vaccine inequality, the raging coronavirus pandemic and logistical difficulties in organizing the event.

To delay the COP is not a good thing, Guterres said. “Delays have been so many and the issue is so urgent.”

Guterres urged the United States and China, the world’s two biggest polluters, to do more to combat climate change.

“We need a stronger engagement of the US, namely in financing for development, for climate-related development issues, mitigation, adaptation, and we need an additional effort from China in relation to emissions,” Guterres said.

ARR