Washington-Sana
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a global coalition to accelerate the deployment of battery technology and ease intellectual property restrictions to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels and combat climate change.
"The global energy system is devastated and we are getting closer to a climate catastrophe," Reuters quoted Guterres as saying, adding, "The cost of renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar energy has fallen dramatically, but there are obstacles to their widespread dissemination."
Guterres called on countries, manufacturers, technology companies and financiers to join efforts to speed up the deployment of batteries, stressing that they are a public interest and should not be hampered by ownership restrictions.
Guterres urged international coordination to expand and diversify supply chains of renewable energy technology and raw materials, which are concentrated in a few countries, and reiterated his calls for governments to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
In order to increase the access of developing countries in the world to renewable energy to power their populations, Guterres called on private and development banks to triple their investments in renewable energy sources to reach $4 trillion annually, and to help poor countries with the initial costs associated with wind and solar energy.
Guterres' call comes at a time when the World Meteorological Organization issued its annual report, which concluded that four major indicators of climate change set new records last year (greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean temperature and acidity).
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