"WASHINGTON — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres bluntly challenged the climate efforts of President Joe Biden and other world leaders Thursday in a message for a White House summit, charging that expanded oil and gas drilling and other policies of the richest countries amount to a “death sentence” for the planet.
The warning marked a public rebuke from the U.N.’s highest official of what he described as “the major emitters” of gases from burning fossil fuels that are heating the planet.
The challenge — recorded by Guterres in a video for the White House virtual climate summit — came as Russia’s war in Ukraine and other threats to the world’s short-term oil and gas supply are leading the U.S. and some other nations to up production of climate-damaging oil, natural gas and coal.
Biden opened the summit recounting his administration’s billions of dollars in climate efforts and by announcing $1 billion in new climate finance for developing nations, as well as other recent and planned legislation and programs. In the U.S. and elsewhere, however, the renewed embrace of fossil fuels is creating conflicts with the climate efforts, plans and promises."
Ellen Knickmeyer and Chris Megerian report for the Associated Press April 20, 2023.
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