UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Wednesday for a "windfall" tax on profits of fossil fuel companies to help pay for the fight against global warming, calling them the "godfathers of climate chaos."
Guterres spoke in a bid to revive the world's focus on climate change at a time when elections, inflation and conflict in places like Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan have seized the spotlight.
In a speech timed for World Environment Day, the UN chief drew on new data and projections to make a case against Big Oil. The European Union's Copernicus service, a global reference for tracking world temperatures, said that last month was the hottest May ever, marking the 12th straight monthly record high.
The service cited an average surface air temperature of 15.9 Celsius (60.6 Fahrenheit) last month -- or 1.52 C higher than the estimated May average before industrial times.
The burning of fossil fuels -- oil, gas and coal -- is the main contributor to global warming caused by human activity.
The World Meteorological Organization said the global mean near-surface temperature for each year from 2024 to 2028 is expected to range between 1.1 and 1.9 C hotter than at the start of the industrial era. The landmark Paris climate accord of 2015 set a target of keeping the rise below 1.5 C (2.7 F).
"Beyond the predictions and statistics is the stark reality that we risk trillions of dollars in economic losses, millions of lives upended and destruction of fragile and precious ecosystems and the biodiversity that exists there," Ko Barrett, the WMO's deputy secretary-general, told a news conference in Geneva.
"What is clear is that the Paris agreement target of 1.5 C is hanging on a thread. It's not yet dead, but it's hanging by a thread," she added.
"This forecast is affirmation that the world has entered a climate where years that are as hot as 2023 should no longer be a surprise," Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor at Stanford's Doerr School of Sustainability, said in an email.
A study released Tuesday by 57 scientists said that as the world keeps burning fossil fuels, Earth is likely to reach the 1.5 C limit in four-and-a-half years.
UN experts and academics have repeatedly highlighted how rising temperatures can upend climate patterns and cause drought, flooding and forest fires. That can lead to climate migration, higher costs for farm products or insurance and greater public health risks linked to high heat or water scarcity.
"While some individuals may escape direct consequences, we will all be affected," said Waleed Abdalati, who heads an environmental sciences institute at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Guterres appealed to media and technology companies to stop taking advertising from the fossil fuel industry's biggest players, as has been done in some places with Big Tobacco.
He also repeated concerns about subsidies paid in many countries for fossil fuels, which help keep prices low for consumers.
"Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities," he said. "Meanwhile, the godfathers of climate chaos -- the fossil fuel industry -- rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies."
Guterres said global emissions of carbon dioxide must fall nine per cent each year to 2030 for the 1.5 C target under the Paris climate accords to be kept alive.
"We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell," Guterres said, while adding: "The truth is, we have control of the wheel."
He called on the Group of 20 countries -- which are holding a summit in Brazil next month and are responsible for about 80 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions -- to lead. The richest one per cent of people on Earth emit as much as two-thirds of all humanity, he said.
"We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unlivable lands," Guterres said.
He appealed to "global finance," alluding to banks and international financial institutions, to help contribute, saying "innovative sources of funds" are needed.
"It's time to put an effective price on carbon and tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies," Guterres said.
But all countries must join the fight, he said, including the developing world, such as by ending deforestation and meeting targets to double energy efficiency and triple the use of renewable energy by 2030.
For the first time, a promise of US$100 billion a year in climate finance agreed in 2009 was fulfilled, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Still, experts say that's well below what's needed to fill the finance gap, with estimates of the annual cost of the global energy transition in the trillions.
Some experts said Guterres' alarmist rhetoric, including a reference to "playing Russian roulette" with the planet, could turn off some people.
"A phrase like this that conjures images of holding a gun to our head risks shifting the conversation away from the science and solutions and more toward the emotion," Abdalati said, adding that "phrases like this serve as fodder for critics, who will claim this is hyperbole."
UN officials acknowledge that the secretary-general has little power beyond the "bully pulpit" -- his perch at the head of the world body -- to encourage change.
Two Canadians are among those killed in southern Lebanon, Global Affairs Canada confirmed late Tuesday. While GAC has not confirmed their names due to privacy, family members tell Â鶹´«Ã½ the two people killed are Hussein and Daad Tabaja.
An image of the unidentified object shot down over Canada's Yukon territory in February 2023 has been obtained by CTVNews.ca.
MPs debated the first non-confidence motion of the fall House of Commons sitting today, seeing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre push once again for a snap election. But with votes secured to keep them afloat, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals were quick to turn the discussion into a referendum on the Conservative alternative.
A city councillor in British Columbia says an online mob of "extremists" and "politically motivated hackers" is responsible for uncovering and publicizing a photo of him wearing a blackface costume to a Halloween party in 2007.
The federal government has 'no intention' of pausing the next planned increase to the carbon price, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault confirms.
After Ontario Premier Doug Ford made controversial comments about solutions to get people out of homeless encampments, advocates and members of the opposition spoke up on Tuesday.
Four puppies were found near County Road 21 in Essa Township after a passerby spotted one when it ran out of the ditch and onto the road.
We've all had neighbours we didn't like, but two people from Sault Ste. Marie have been awarded more than half a million dollars for the 'extreme' behaviour of the people who lived next to them.
A Missouri man convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and repeatedly stabbing her was executed Tuesday over the objections of the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who wanted the death sentence commuted to life in prison.
An advocate organization is calling for an inquiry following the death of a six-year-old boy who went missing in Shamattawa First Nation.
The smoke over the Port of Montreal has dissipated, but the fire in a container filled with 15,000 kilograms of lithium batteries prompted firefighters to issue a warning about how common these incidents have become.
A team at the University of Waterloo are developing a process to 3D-print bones, which could dramatically improve the quality of life for cancer and trauma patients.
More Canadians are installing solar panels on their homes, but some are facing challenges when it comes to getting home insurance after the panels are put in.
Four puppies were found near County Road 21 in Essa Township after a passerby spotted one when it ran out of the ditch and onto the road.
After Ontario Premier Doug Ford made controversial comments about solutions to get people out of homeless encampments, advocates and members of the opposition spoke up on Tuesday.
A Missouri man convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and repeatedly stabbing her was executed Tuesday over the objections of the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who wanted the death sentence commuted to life in prison.
Kg rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and its ally Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group. Israel has responded with increasingly heavy airstrikes and the targeted killing of Hezbollah commanders while threatening a wider operation.
Iran’s new president signaled to world leaders Tuesday that he wants to open a 'constructive' chapter in his country’s international relations — but he made clear that everyone else, including the United States, needs to do their part.
A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him was indicted Tuesday on an attempted assassination charge.
Special counsel Jack Smith this week will be allowed to file hundreds of pages of legal arguments and evidence gathered in the 2020 election subversion and Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack criminal case against former president Donald Trump, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
A federal judge sentenced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend to two years in prison, citing her extensive cooperation with prosecutors that led to the conviction of the former face of the cryptocurrency industry in one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.
The federal government has 'no intention' of pausing the next planned increase to the carbon price, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault confirms.
U.S. President Joe Biden reflected on the motivation behind his decision to step away from politics and sent a message of unity to global leaders gathered at a time of increasing division and geopolitical instability.
MPs debated the first non-confidence motion of the fall House of Commons sitting today, seeing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre push once again for a snap election. But with votes secured to keep them afloat, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals were quick to turn the discussion into a referendum on the Conservative alternative.
The federal Liberals are creating a new agency to beef up Canada's ability to handle rapidly spreading infectious diseases and protect from future pandemics.
A team at the University of Waterloo are developing a process to 3D-print bones, which could dramatically improve the quality of life for cancer and trauma patients.
The province has announced a new plan to lower the age for mammogram self-referrals to 40 from 50 in an effort to get more Manitobans screened for breast cancer.
The smoke over the Port of Montreal has dissipated, but the fire in a container filled with 15,000 kilograms of lithium batteries prompted firefighters to issue a warning about how common these incidents have become.
Questions are being raised over the use of body cameras in stores as a way to combat crime.
Scientists have discovered a new species of ghost shark that lives in deep ocean waters near Australia and New Zealand.
The Crown's key witness in the sexual assault trial against former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard will take the stand in a northern Ontario courtroom Tuesday afternoon following the judge's instructions to the jury.
Drake wasn't around to accept a handful of trophies at the SOCAN Awards on Tuesday, but the rapper's presence was still looming large at the celebration of Canadian songwriters.
Another woman sued Sean 'Diddy' Combs on Tuesday, alleging that the music mogul and his head of security raped her and recorded it on video at his New York recording studio in 2001.
Given the continued progress the Bank of Canada has made in bringing inflation back down to the 2 per cent target, it is reasonable to expect more rate cuts, Governor Tiff Macklem said on Tuesday.
Some Royal Bank of Canada employees who joined when the bank acquired HSBC Canada worry they could lose their jobs when RBC's six-month guarantee to keep them expires this month, according to six sources familiar with the situation.
Metro Vancouver grain terminal workers are now on strike, bringing tens of millions of dollars of exports to a standstill.
From cellphone 'hotels' to patchwork policies to recalibrating lesson plans, teachers and schools across Canada are learning to navigate a classroom without cellphones.
An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.
The Newcomers Football Club, an impromptu team made up of asylum-seekers, has helped provide Boubacar Lukaku and others with a joy that erases their stress. And it's helped connect them with a supportive community as they navigate the challenges of a new country.
Watching Connor McDavid screaming in a locker room is something hockey fans didn't necessarily expect.
Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre revealed Tuesday at a hearing on federal welfare reform that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
American gymnast Jordan Chiles’s legal team has submitted a new application in the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland over the decision that led to her losing an Olympic bronze medal, pointing toward new video evidence that Chiles’s lawyers say proves her case.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reported this week that officers in the agency's Montreal Marine and Rail Services seized 78 vehicles and transferred them to police. Numbers of stolen vehicles in Quebec continue to skyrocket.
Struggling Jeep and Ram maker Stellantis is looking for a CEO to succeed Carlos Tavares, but the company says it's just part of a normal leadership succession plan.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday will propose a ban on the sale or import of smart vehicles that use specific Chinese or Russian technology because of national security concerns, according to U.S. officials.
Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.
Fire has destroyed a barn and 17,000 plants at a family-owned business in Lower Coverdale, N.B.
Before influencers on social media, Canada’s Jeanne Beker was bringing the world of high fashion down to earth and as Calgary’s Glenbow Museum gets a major make-over, it will include a new exhibition showcasing the pop culture icon.
A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.
A Nova Scotian YouTuber has launched a mini-truck bookmobile.
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
Less than one month before voters cast their ballots in the provincial election, a new poll of British Columbians shows half of respondents fear for their safety in their own communities.
A new report from Re/Max shows it's becoming increasingly unrealistic for most people to buy a detached home in Metro Vancouver.
Jericho Pier has been closed to the public since a storm battered it in January 2022 – but now, the Vancouver Park Board has approved a plan to repair it at a cost of $1 million.
Ontario's ministry of education is now officially investigating a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) field trip at an Indigenous rights rally students participated in, where pro-Palestinian slogans were later chanted.
A woman fatally struck in a collision in The Junction neighbourhood on Monday evening is being remembered as a 'wonderful and beautiful person' who was a beloved member of Toronto's jazz community.
An 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in a caught-on-video incident in Mississauga earlier this month is now facing auto theft charges in Toronto.
Alberta's premier wants to reinforce the ability to choose whether to receive a vaccination or other medical procedures through changes to the province's Bill of Rights.
In-street signs meant to slow drivers down and keep pedestrians safe are having to be replaced at a rapid rate in Calgary because they're being hit by vehicles.
A Calgary man is facing child pornography charges after an investigation uncovered years of messages exchanged with an alleged felon.
Ottawa police say two people under the age of 18 have been arrested following an incident that prompted a lockdown at Glebe Collegiate Institute around the noon hour Tuesday.
After Ontario Premier Doug Ford made controversial comments about solutions to get people out of homeless encampments, advocates and members of the opposition spoke up on Tuesday.
Ottawa Community Housing has announced a new development downtown, which in its first phase will see 336 new affordable homes – and that plan is only the beginning.
The heat is rising for Quebec Premier François Legault as opposition parties demand answers about his government's investment in the planned Northvolt battery factory near Montreal.
Quebec's language watchdog received a record number of complaints from citizens last year and carried out an increasing number of inspections on employers.
Quebec's minister responsible for relations with First Nations and Inuit says northern communities can't opt out of paying their electricity bills.
Local leaders are echoing concerns about doctor shortages as the organization representing Alberta's doctors warns nearly half of the physicians surveyed are considering leaving the province within five years.
One person was hospitalized after a crash involving a Valley Line Southeast LRT train and a semi Tuesday morning.
While Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch and his staff still have two weeks of training camp to decide who stays and who goes to cement the 23-man roster for opening night, onlookers saw what could well be the makeup of the squad come Oct. 9's home game against the Winnipeg Jets.
As temperatures cool down, the Halifax Regional Municipality is serving eviction notices to residents at one of the city’s larger tent encampments.
Questions are being raised over the use of body cameras in stores as a way to combat crime.
Antigonish County District RCMP is trying to track down a man wanted on a provincewide arrest warrant for sexual assault in Nova Scotia.
An advocate organization is calling for an inquiry following the death of a six-year-old boy who went missing in Shamattawa First Nation.
An MLA recently kicked out of the NDP caucus says he is setting the record straight about a controversial handshake between PC MLA Obby Khan and Premier Wab Kinew.
Summer officially gave way to autumn on Sunday, but Winnipeg’s construction season is far from over with work continuing on regional roadways and residential streets.
Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) has been deployed following a fatal officer-involved shooting on Fishing Lake First Nation.
An appeal hearing stemming from a court challenge of the Government of Saskatchewan's Parents' Bill of Rights has come to a close.
A new program is expanding the capacity of breast cancer screening services across Saskatchewan, and a fundraising campaign is underway to get it done. This all comes as age requirement have been lowered for mammogram screening starting in the new year.
A reward of up to $50K has been issued by Waterloo Regional Police for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Joshua Bennett.
Newlyweds claim the company they hired to take their wedding photos and videos took off with their precious memories – and their money.
Back in July, a plot of land had an immature crop of corn destroyed. It was an action that outraged local farmers. Now, a new report into the matter has been released and will be presented to regional council Wednesday.
Saskatchewan’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) has been deployed following a fatal officer-involved shooting on Fishing Lake First Nation.
The Government of Saskatchewan says a private Christian school, embroiled in abuse allegations, has proved it's met education ministry rules by formally disconnecting from an affiliated church. But, by some indications, connections remain.
An appeal hearing stemming from a court challenge of the Government of Saskatchewan's Parents' Bill of Rights has come to a close.
We've all had neighbours we didn't like, but two people from Sault Ste. Marie have been awarded more than half a million dollars for the 'extreme' behaviour of the people who lived next to them.
An image of the unidentified object shot down over Canada's Yukon territory in February 2023 has been obtained by CTVNews.ca.
A 49-year-old Sudbury woman who was killed in a tragic collision with a police boat June 7 on Nepewassi Lake was told to remain in a residence on an island until police returned to pick her up.
The calls are growing louder for city council to tighten the rules governing short-term accommodations, including those advertised on websites like Airbnb and Vrbo, after students arrived by the busload at a rented house in the Masonville neighbourhood.
“I was going to make breakfast, and I put the frying pan on the stove and opened it and remembered I needed something from No Frills,†said Frank Wall, who lives just north of Aylmer, Ont.
Protesting for more than an hour in a pouring rain, members of tenants’ advocacy group London ACORN called on city council to strengthen a draft licensing by-law meant to discourage so-called ‘renovictions’.
Three construction workers are being praised for their actions that police in Barrie say likely prevented an armed man from fleeing before being taken into custody.
Four puppies were found near County Road 21 in Essa Township after a passerby spotted one when it ran out of the ditch and onto the road.
An Uber driver was handed a 12-month driving ban on Tuesday following a collision that injured a pedestrian and killed a labrador retriever in Barrie.
A person from Windsor has died in a collision on Highway 59 in Oxford County.
A road in Essex County has reopened following a multi-vehicle crash. According to OPP, County Road 20 had been closed between Iler road and McCormick Road in Harrow.
Amherstburg town council has given the go-ahead for restoration proposals for the Belle Vue National Historic Site.
A city councillor in British Columbia says an online mob of "extremists" and "politically motivated hackers" is responsible for uncovering and publicizing a photo of him wearing a blackface costume to a Halloween party in 2007.
Less than one month before voters cast their ballots in the provincial election, a new poll of British Columbians shows half of respondents fear for their safety in their own communities.
A boater was rescued on Monday evening after spending three hours in the frigid waters off Vancouver Island.
A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.
Dozens of police officers and support workers have come to Lethbridge for the Social Disorder and Urban Crime Conference.
Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
To make higher education an easier step to take for Indigenous students, the University of Lethbridge is dropping some fees for those applicants.
A 25-year-old suspect was charged with impaired driving Sept. 21 after police spotted two people without helmets on an ATV on Sand Bay Road in Goulais River.
A federal offender who was last seen in Sudbury is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for allegedly breaching his statutory release conditions.
The Crown's key witness in the sexual assault trial against former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard will take the stand in a northern Ontario courtroom Tuesday afternoon following the judge's instructions to the jury.
Newfoundland and Labrador sponsored a minor football team in England, now they’re about to play one of the biggest clubs in European soccer.
Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
A 16-year-old biennial event aimed at fostering business in the country's eastern Arctic and northern regions has been cancelled indefinitely as a dispute unfolds between Inuit in Canada and a Labrador group claiming to share their heritage.
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