Phase Out Fossil Fuels To Avoid Climate ‘Catastrophe’, UN’s Guterres Says

• The United Nations’ top official urged all countries to phase out coal and other fossil fuels to avert climate “catastrophe.”
• Keeping the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still doable, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said while speaking to journalists, but this will have to demand a 45% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. If current policies continue, temperatures may rise to 2.8°C by the end of the century, which definitely “spells catastrophe.”
• Guterres called for immediate global action toward net-zero emissions, which “must start with the polluted heart of the climate crisis: the fossil fuel industry. He said countries must massively boost investment in renewable energy.
• In the Caribbean, countries like St Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica have shifted and invested towards cleaner sources of energy.
• Notably, St Kitts and Nevis received US$17Mn funding from the Caribbean Development Bank for its two geothermal production wells.
• Additionally, the Commonwealth of Dominica’s geothermal plant has progressed significantly over the years. Recently, the plant received a “significant boost” with the proposal to develop an industrial-scale green hydrogen complex.
• While the Caribbean region has not collectively developed a sustainable energy pathway, advances in solar, wind, battery storage technologies and other green project investments in other countries are anticipated to become increasingly common across the region.

 (Source: Caribbean News Now)