MADRID — The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP25 officially opened here on Monday. The opening ceremony began with a warning from Hoesung Lee, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who said that “if we continue as we are doing, we run the risk of increasing the temperature of the planet and that will have an effect and terrible consequences for humanity and threaten our existence.”
“We are not doing enough and we are not even getting close to what we need to do to control this situation,” he said. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the world would need “solidarity and flexibility to win the war against climate change.” Guterres explained there is only one way to control the temperature of the planet and that was “limited the use of fossil fuel. If we don’t do that we will end up in a catastrophic situation,” he warned, before praising the work of young climate activists.
“Young people are telling the leaders that they need to fight against the climate emergency,” commented the UN chief. The event has been organized in the Spanish capital after Chile, which presides over the event, had to step down as host due to social unrest.
Acting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez welcomed delegates to Spain, saying “Madrid will be the capital of the fight against climate change and for a true commitment. But above all we want to be the capital of dialogue, words and society.”
He said that although the event was being held in Spain, it is being presided over by Chile. “This is Chile’s COP: it is Chile who has organized the leadership and who has worked for an alliance against climate change and the success of this event will belong to Chile.” The event, which lasts till Dec. 13, is being held at Madrid’s IFEMA exhibition center. XINHUA/RSS
