The UN asks to tax the extraordinary profits of oil companies to pay the bill for the climate crisis

António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, has placed fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal), the main responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet, at the center of the climate crisis.

And he has called on every country in the world to tax the windfall profits that fossil fuel companies are making from the current rise in energy prices.

"Let's redirect money to people struggling with rising food and energy prices and to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis," said the UN chief at the start of the summit. of the climate that is celebrated in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh, the so-called COP27.

At this summit, the issue of loss and damage will have a prominent place, the strong economic impacts due to current and future warming, such as those caused by extreme weather events or the islands that will disappear with the rise in sea level.

And Guterres has made it clear that “obtaining concrete results on loss and damage is a litmus test of the governments' commitment to the success of COP27″.

The most vulnerable nations are the ones that put the most pressure so that at this summit the foundations can be laid for the establishment of a compensation mechanism or fund with financing.

The UN Secretary General has called for "a clear roadmap with precise deadlines."

For Guterres it is a "moral imperative" to deal with this issue, a question of "climate justice".

"Those who contributed the least to the climate crisis are reaping the whirlwind sown by others," he said, referring to the most vulnerable countries that, at the same time, are the ones that expel the least greenhouse gas emissions per capita into the atmosphere. .

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Guterres delivered this speech during the opening of the COP27 high-level event in which more than a hundred heads of state and government from around the world will participate.

This act is the starting signal for the discussions that will be carried out for two weeks by the representatives of the almost 200 countries that are part of the UN negotiations on climate change.

The main EU leaders participate in the opening —among them Pedro Sánchez— and, although he will not be at the inauguration, Joe Biden, president of the United States, will also attend the Sharm el Sheikh summit at the end of the week.

However, the top leaders of China, India and Russia will not participate in person.

This does not mean that these countries will not attend the summit, since their ministers and delegates will be in the negotiations.

Talking about loss and damage is talking about what is and will be inevitable due to climate change.

But the future is not yet fully written.

Guterres recalled that the planet "is rapidly approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible."

"We are on a highway to climatic hell with our foot on the gas," he added.

But the "point of no return" can still not be overcome.

To do this, global emissions must take a radical turn and begin to fall urgently.

"To avoid that terrible fate, all G20 countries must accelerate their transition now, in this decade," Guterres said.

The members of the G20 —among which are the developed nations such as the US and the members of the European Union, but also other countries considered emerging such as China,

The EU and the US have put forward plans to cut their emissions by 2030. But big developing economies like China and India are putting off big cuts beyond this decade.

Guterres has opted to implement "measures to restore confidence, especially between the North and the South", which will allow this situation to be turned around.

A pact between north and south

The highest representative of the UN has called for a "historic pact between developed and emerging economies", a "climate solidarity pact".

An agreement in which all countries make "an extra effort to reduce emissions this decade" to ensure that the temperature at the end of the century does not exceed an increase of 1.5 degrees in the average temperature compared to industrial levels (in this moment we are at 1.1 degrees).

And a pact "in which the richest countries and international financial institutions provide financial and technical assistance to help emerging economies accelerate their own transition to renewable energy."

The Secretary-General has called for an end to “dependence on fossil fuels and the construction of coal plants”.

It must, he has recalled, “phase out coal in OECD countries by 2030 and everywhere else by 2040″.

He has expressly cited the United States and China, of which he has said that they have "the particular responsibility of joining efforts to make this pact a reality."

"This is our only hope of meeting our climate goals."

climate finance

Guterres recalled that despite climate negotiations like the ones being held now in Egypt, "greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow" and "global temperatures continue to rise".

That is why he has considered it “unacceptable, outrageous and counterproductive” to leave the climate crisis in the background in the face of conflicts such as the war in Ukraine.

“In fact, many of today's conflicts are linked to growing climate chaos.

The war in Ukraine has exposed the profound risks of our addiction to fossil fuels,” explained the UN Secretary-General.

In his opinion, climate change is “the defining issue of our time”, so “today's urgent crises cannot be an excuse to go backwards or for greenwashing”.

"If anything, they are a reason for greater urgency, stronger action and effective accountability," Guterres added.

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