UN Head Calls on Global Funding Agencies to Shun Fossil Fuels

摘要

The head of the United Nations is calling on international lending agencies to stop financing major fossil fuel projects, which he said are no longer economic investments.UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a speech Thursday, also said the Group of Seven nations should make “substantial” climate financing pledges, with some doubling priorcommitments.The event was part of the runup to the UN’s annual climate conference in November, and his comments reflect the increasing push to motivate world leaders to increase their efforts tocurb carbon emissions. Restricting financial support for fossil fuels has emerged as a key strategy to limit global development at a time when the world “stands at the edge of the abyss,”he said.“We can no longer afford big fossil fuel infrastructure anywhere,” Guterres said. “Such investments simply deepen our predicament. They are not even cost-effective.”