PARIS – UN chief Antonio Guterres on Oct 16 urged governments to stop subsidising the production of fossil fuels that are “boiling our planet and are the scourge of biodiversity”.
Addressing leaders in Armenia ahead of next week’s UN biodiversity summit, Guterres said governments were still “spending money on the wrong things” and singled out incentives for fossil fuels.
“Subsidising fossil fuels is subsidising suicide,” Guterres said at an event in Yerevan.
“They are boiling our planet and are the scourge of biodiversity. I urge governments everywhere to end these handouts once and for all, and to use the savings for people and planet instead.”
Nations have made little headway since pledging in 2022 to reduce public spending on activities that harm nature such as mining, fossil fuel extraction and intensive farming.
The United Nations says that for every dollar invested in protecting or restoring nature, about US$30 (S$38) still goes into activities that degrade it.
This includes an estimated US$2.6 trillion a year in public subsidies that negatively impact nature and the climate.
Nearly 200 nations are participating in the UN biodiversity negotiations in Yerevan starting on Oct 19, where a lack of finance for nature will be a core focus.
Guterres launched a report on Oct 16 showing that the world was off track to achieving the 2030 biodiversity targets enshrined in a landmark pact for nature. AFP