LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on every country to declare a “climate emergency” on Saturday, as world leaders marking the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate accord made mostly incremental pledges relative to the scale of the crisis. “Can anybody still deny that we are facing a dramatic emergency?” Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who has made climate change his signature issue, said via video. Campaigners hailed the move for putting pressure on other G7 economies to restrict support for oil and gas companies. Argentina, Barbados, Canada, Colombia, Iceland and Peru were among 15 countries who shifted from “incremental” to “major” increases in their emissions pledges, the U.N., British and French co-hosts said in a statement. ($1 = 0.8257 euros) Reporting by Matthew Green and Kate Abnett; Editing by Alex Richardson, Tom Brown, Frances Kerry and William Mallard

Source: Huffington Post December 13, 2020 02:26 UTC