The G7, consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, along with the European Union, are meeting in the city where the first atomic bomb was dropped in 1945, where the which Secretary of State-General António Guterres described, as a “proof of the human spirit“.
“Whenever I visit, I am inspired by courage and Hibakusha’s resilience,” he said, referring to the survivors of that terrible act of war. “The United Nations is on their side. We will never stop promoting a world without nuclear weapons.”
Yes and no
Mr. Guterres said his message to the G7 leaders was clear and simple: “while the economic picture everywhere is uncertain, rich countries cannot ignore reality that more than half of the world – the vast majority of countries – are experienced a deep financial crisis.”
He repeated his point of view first expressed in a official visit to Jamaica last week, that the problems facing developing countries have three aspects; ethics, power-related, and practical.
Building on “systematic bias and injustice” in the global economic and financial system; the obsolescence of the global financial structure; and the fact that even under the current rules, developing economies have gone bust and shorted; The head of the United Nations said the G7 had a duty to act.
Redistribution of power
He said the financial system created by Breton Woods’ reorganization after World War II, simply “failed to perform its core function as a global safety net”, in the face of economic shocks. economy from COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said it was time to fix the Breton Woods system and reform the United Nations. Security Council.
“This is essentially a question about redistributing power in line with the realities of today’s world.”
“In our multipolar world, as geopolitical divisions grow, no country or group of countries can stay out like this,” he said. billions of people struggle with the basics food, water, education, health and jobs.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres meets Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in 2023.
‘Clearly lost his way’
Highlight the dangers of ignoring the speed of climate changehe outlined specific areas where the world’s richest people are central to the success of climate action.
He told journalists that current projections show humanity is headed for a temperature increase of 2.8°C by the end of the century and that the next five years will likely be the hottest ever. . according to the latest data from the United Nations weather agency, WMO.
He said the G7, with its enormous economic and financial strength, is “at the heart of climate action”, is working, “but not enough and we are clearly on the wrong track”.
“Our Accelerator Program aims to make up for lost time. It calls for all G7 nations to reach net zero as close to 2040 as possible, and emerging economies to do so as close to 2050 as possible.
A Climate Solidarity Pact calls on the G7 to mobilize resources to support less developed economies in accelerating decarbonisation, to stay within the 1.5° limit on heating, compared with pre-industrial levels.
Secretary-General António Guterres and world leaders pay their respects at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.
Gradually remove coal
“This requires Faster timeline phasing out fossil fuels and increasing renewable energy. It means carbon pricing and an end to fossil fuel subsidies. I call on the G7 to completely phase out coal by 2030,” he said.
But he also called climate justiceon behalf of those countries that have done the least to cause the crisis, but are suffering the most.
“We must step up early warning and adaptation systems to help communities on the front lines… It is time for the developed world to deliver the promised $100 billion a year,” he added.
And he also repeated that Loss and Damage Fund agreed in Sharm el-Sheikh, during last year’s COP27, “must be run.”
