UN secretary-general has urged the Group of 20 leaders to send a strong message on climate change

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U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the Group of 20 top economic powers to use their weekend summit to send a strong message on climate change

NEW DELHI — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday urged the Group of 20 top economic powers, which are responsible for more than 80% of the emissions that cause global warming, to use their weekend summit to send a strong message on climate change.

Guterres said all licensing or funding for new fossil fuel projects should be stopped and that the G20 must keep the “1.5-degree goal alive,” referring to the 2015 Paris climate agreement that set 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) as a global guardrail in atmospheric warming, with countries pledging to try to prevent that much long-term warming if possible.

Earlier this year, the U.N. weather agency had said that there’s a two-out-of-three chance that the world will temporarily hit a key warming limit within the next five years.

July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin.

Climate ministers of the G20 nations ended their last meeting for the year in July without resolving major disagreements on climate policies.

“The climate crisis is worsening dramatically — but the collective response is lacking in ambition, credibility, and urgency,” Guterres said at a news conference at the U.N. office in New Delhi.

India's priorities for the G20 summit include efforts to develop alternative fuels like hydrogen, resource efficiency and reforming development banks like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to help make funds more accessible for lower- and middle-income countries as they seek solutions to combat climate change.

Guterres called on big emitters to make additional efforts