LEADERS of the United Nations, who either attended the 14th Group of 20 (G20) summit in Osaka, Japan, or stayed at the U.N. headquarters in New York, seized the opportunity when leaders of the major world economies were all together, trying hard to turn their attention to climate change.

The annual G20 summit of leaders from the largest and fastest-growing economies, which concluded Saturday, was held against the backdrop of what the U.N. chief Antonio Guterres described as “a moment of high political tension.”

“We have global warming,” the U.N. chief said directly to reporters before addressing the summit, spotlighting the urgency of addressing climate change as a main priority.

Painting a picture of “heat waves in Europe, drought in Africa, storms happening also in Africa and the Caribbean” and a “multiplication” of more intense and more frequent natural disasters “with worsening humanitarian consequences,” the secretary-general repeated his passionate refrain that “climate change is running faster than we are.”

“All the analyses that can be made show the situation, in practical terms, is worse than what we could have forecast, and the political will has been failing,” he said, calling it “a paradox that needs to be addressed.”

Avowing his belief in climate science, Guterres cited the landmark Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report from last October, which spells out that by the end of the 21st century, temperatures must not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

This necessitates the world reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, which requires more ambition by governments and organizations.

Guterres spoke about the U.N.’s September Climate Action Summit in New York where he will appeal to world leaders for a stronger commitment to climate action, including “putting a price on carbon, ending subsidies to fossil fuels, (and) not accepting the idea that we still have an acceleration of the construction of coal power plants,” all of which are “absolutely essential to rescuing the planet.”

The U.N. chief highlighted that G20 nations represent 80 percent of climate change emissions and appealed for a stronger commitment to international financial and economic cooperation.

During a meeting Saturday with the foreign ministers of China and France, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Guterres said that the world needs to create the conditions for “harmony between humankind and nature.”

“We need to rescue the planet,” he noted.

Guterres expressed his gratitude to both countries not only for their “climate action” but for their multilateral approach to climate change, which he said was “absolutely essential” to the success of the 2018 U.N. climate conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland, last December.

However, the secretary-general noted that the recently concluded U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Bonn was not a success, saying that the realities on the ground today are “even more difficult” because of “political failings in some areas of the world.”

“We need a boost in political will,” asserted the U.N. chief. “I very much count on the determination of both China and France, both with the Paris Agreement, and with climate action and multilateralism, to allow for our capacity to overcome the present difficulties.”

Back home at the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces said Thursday that her message to the leaders attending the G20 summit was that “we have run out of time” on climate change.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference, the UNGA president said that “we have run out of time. We are in a climate emergency, and the cost of inaction is too high.”

“We don’t have options. We need to take seriously transitions to carbon neutral economies,” she noted.

The UNGA president commended the European Union (EU) for its collective effort in combating climate change, noting that most of the EU member states have committed to meeting their target of carbon neutrality by 2050.

“The cost of inaction is going to be unquantifiable because it is not only material loss, it is human lives and macro-economic losses,” said Espinosa.

The UNGA president urged the international community to heed the damages caused by the impacts of climate change, droughts and floods, and the destruction of infrastructure, “if people do care about money and prosperity.”

Referring to the much expected 2019 Climate Action Summit, which is scheduled to be held at the U.N. headquarters in New York from Sept. 21 to 23, Espinosa said that the summit is a testament to the capacity of the multilateral system.

To boost ambition and accelerate actions to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Guterres will host the 2019 Climate Action Summit in September to meet the climate challenge. The summit will showcase a leap in collective national political ambition, and it will demonstrate massive movements in the real economy in support of the agenda.

Espinosa told reporters quoting Guterres that “we do not expect our leaders to come up with speeches, but with plans and with concrete commitments.” (Xinhua)