MADRID (AP) – Failure to tackle global warming could result in economic disaster, the United Nations Secretary-General warned Thursday in Madrid, as negotiators at the U.N. climate talks remained deadlocked over key issues.
António Guterres said unrestrained climate change would allow only the “survival of the richest,” while former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the “absence of leadership” from Washington was a big obstacle in the talks.
“It’s very difficult to get this done if the United States of America isn’t there,” the veteran diplomat told The Associated Press during an interview in the Spanish capital, adding that he felt negotiators were holding their breath until the next U.S. presidential election at the end of 2020.
President Donald Trump’s administration has begun the process of abandoning an ambitious 2015 global deal forged by his predecessor Barack Obama that aimed to contain rising temperatures on the planet. Officially the U.S. leaves the Paris accord on Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the U.S. election.
“I think Glasgow is already more of a target in many people’s minds here, and that handicaps the process slightly,” Kerry said, referring to the venue of next year’s U.N. climate summit.