World facing ‘chain reaction crash’ of crises, UN chief tells Davos
THE world is “looking into the eye of a Category 5 hurricane,” UN Secretary General Ant nio Guterres said in a gloomy speech to political leaders and business chiefs at Davos on Wednesday.
The UN boss delivered a scorching assessment of the “sorry state of our world” from the main stage at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort town.
“Our world is being plagued by a perfect storm on a number of fronts,” Guterres told the elite conclave, before going on to liken the slew of “interlinked” crises to “cars in a chain reaction crash.” His litany of threats included the looming global recession, the war in Ukraine, deepening inequalities, a rapidly unfolding cost of living crisis and high debt levels “pounding” vulnerable countries.
“Covid-19 is still straining economies - while the world’s failure to prepare for future pandemics is straining credulity,” he said.
But Guterres saved his most impassioned rhetoric for the climate crisis, saying the “the battle is being lost” and that every week brings “a new climate horror.” The commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial
levels was nearly “going up in smoke” and the world was hurtling towards a 2.8 degree increase, he said.
He saved some of his harshest condemnation for the fossil fuel industry. “Big oil peddled the big lie,” he said, telling the crowd that the industry has known of the planet-harming effects of its product since the 1970s.
The World Economic Forum itself claims to advance international climate policy. Not only are there numerous events on the topic, the annual conference is also supposed to be climate-neutral.