A blistering heatwave is sweeping the northern hemisphere, including parts of Europe and the Americas, with record-high temperatures triggering devastating wildfires in countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, Canada and Algeria along the Mediterranean.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres aptly described the intense heat as a “cruel summer” while pleading for immediate radical action on climate change.
He was to the purpose when he said the record-shattering temperatures last month show Earth has passed from a warming phase into an “era of global boiling.”
In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself often mentioned the need to address climate change and protect the environment in his speeches since becoming chief executive of this country of 114 million people in June 2022.
“The building blocks of progressive, livable and sustainable communities will never be complete without appropriate and responsible action to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change,” the 65-year-old President said, adding his administration treats climate change as an “important criterion” in crafting national policies.
The chief executive earlier on cited the need to develop green and blue economies, and protect and preserve forests as well as the commitment of the country to meet the global decarbonization goals.
He also touched on the adoption of a “circular economy” – or maximizing resource efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts and greenhouse gas emissions.
“Just like our climate change action, this new system requires the participation of all sectors of society, up to each individual citizen, for it to succeed,” the President said.
Speaking in New York recently, Guterres said the heat last month for the entire planet “is a disaster” and noted that “short of a mini-Ice Age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the board.”
He added: “Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”
US President Joe Biden at the White House himself has said that, with large swathes of the United States facing a record-breaking heatwave, the soaring temperatures from climate change is an “existential threat.”
The extreme impacts of climate change have been in line with scientists’ “predictions and repeated warnings,” Guterres said, adding the “only surprise is the speed of the change.”
In the face of “tragic” consequences, he repeated his call for swift and far-reaching action, taking aim once again at the fossil fuel sector.
“The air is unbreathable. The heat is unbearable. And the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable,” said Guterres, Portugal’s former prime minister.
“Leaders must lead,” he said. “No more hesitancy. No more excuses. No more waiting for others to move first.”
Ahead of the Climate Ambition Summit he is set to host in September, Guterres called on developed countries to commit to achieving carbon neutrality as close to 2040 as possible, and for emerging economies as close as possible to 2050.
The “destruction” unleashed by humanity “must not inspire despair, but action,” he said, warning that to prevent the worst outcomes humanity “must turn a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition.”