climate change

UN News' Assumpta Massoi interviews Secretary General António Guterres.
UN News/Leah Mushi

UN chief's message to world leaders: ‘Wake up, change course, unite’ 

19 September 2021
UN Affairs

In a wide-ranging interview with UN News, Secretary-General António Guterres is calling on world leaders to ‘wake up’, make an immediate course correction at home and abroad, and unite. 

A wildfire burns in a national park in Oregon, USA.
Unsplash/Marcus Kauffman

IPCC report: ‘Code red’ for human driven global heating, warns UN chief

9 August 2021
Climate and Environment

Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, and some trends are now irreversible, at least during the present time frame, according to the latest much-anticipated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released on Monday.

The Earth, an image created from photographs taken by the Suomi NPP satellite.
NASA

Climate Action: It’s time to make peace with nature, UN chief urges

2 December 2020
Climate and Environment

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has described the fight against the climate crisis as the top priority for the 21st Century, in a passionate, uncompromising speech delivered on Wednesday at Columbia University in New York.

A park in Brooklyn, New York, has marked out circles in order to enforce social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

WHO’s Tedros says it is time for the world to heal, pushing back on ‘misguided nationalism’ 

9 November 2020
Health

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told Member States on Monday that efforts to tackle climate change and poverty had been set back by a lack of global unity since major agreements were struck five years ago, and welcomed the chance to work with the presumptive new US administration of president-elect Joe Biden.

Drought in Africa will adversely impact the productivity of major cereal crops, says a report launched by WMO today.
WMO/Cornel Vermaak

Africa climate change report reveals heat rising north and south, Sahel getting wetter

26 October 2020
Climate and Environment

Africa needs to prepare better for climate change by responding to a wide range of potential risks, a multi-agency report led by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday, the first in a series of continent-by-continent assessments.

The capital of Japan, Tokyo, requires huge amounts of electricity to power the city.
Unsplash/Jezael Melgoza

Climate action: UN chief encouraged by Japan’s 2050 net zero pledge 

26 October 2020
Climate and Environment

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed Japan’s announcement on Monday that it would reduce carbon emissions to zero, by 2050, as part of the global effort to slow the worldwide rise in temperatures, and prevent the most damaging effects of human-made climate change. 

Extreme weather events are devastating many countries, including Fiji which was hit by a cyclone in 2016.
OCHA/Danielle Parry

‘Staggering’ rise in climate emergencies in last 20 years, new disaster research shows

12 October 2020
Climate and Environment

The first 20 years of this century have seen a “staggering” rise in climate disasters, UN researchers said on Monday, while also maintaining that “almost all nations” have failed to prevent a “wave of death and illness” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Malala Yousafzai, UN Messenger of Peace and Nobel Laureate (on screen), delivers remarks at the first virtual Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Moment of the Decade of Action.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Sustainable Development goals are ‘the future’ Malala tells major UN event, urging countries to get on track

18 September 2020
SDGs

The Global Goals represent the future for millions of girls who want education, women who fight for equality, and youth fighting for clean air, UN Messenger of Peace Malala Yousafzai said on Friday, at a side event of the General Assembly, challenging Member States, “when are you planning to do the work”? 

A team of scientists at Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group is making progress towards the discovery of a safe, effective and accessible vaccine against coronavirus.
University of Oxford/John Cairns

UN chief: COVID-19 vaccine must be affordable and available to all  

16 September 2020
Peace and Security

The continuing COVID-19 pandemic continues to top a long list of global concerns, the UN chief told journalists on Wednesday, noting that “the grimmest of milestones” is upon us. 

Death Valley, USA.
Unsplash/Sarah Lachise

Death Valley temperature likely highest since 1931: UN weather agency

18 August 2020
Climate and Environment

“All indications” suggest that the extreme temperature reading of 54.4 degrees Celsius recorded in California’s Death Valley on Sunday, is legitimate, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.