U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday will gather heads of state and business leaders that he has identified as taking stronger action on climate change for a meeting aimed at building momentum ahead of the COP28 climate summit.
Guterres said one of the aims was to spur action from countries and companies whose climate plans were not in line with the global climate target.
Guterres has been blunt in his public assessment of countries’ climate actions and whether they will deliver on the Paris Agreement goal to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C.
“I’m not sure all leaders are feeling the heat. Actions are falling abysmally short,” he said in his opening remarks of the UN General Assembly.
A report released by the U.N. earlier this month said existing national pledges to cut emissions were insufficient to keep temperatures within the 1.5 C threshold. More than 20 gigatonnes of further CO2 reductions were needed this decade – and global net zero by 2050 – in order to meet the goals.
China’s mission to the United Nations and UAE did not immediately respond for comment.
