Antonio Guterres was speaking to the BBC for a special interview to be broadcast on the BBC World Service

By Ryan Morrison • December 2, 2020

Humans have waged a ‘suicidal war’ on planet Earth, warns the UN Secretary General, saying fires, floods and cyclones will become the ‘new normal’.

Speaking to the BBC for a special radio interview, Antonio Guterres warned that nature always strikes back and is currently doing so ‘with gathering force and fury’.

Tackling climate change is set to be at the heart of the UN’s global mission, he said, adding a ‘global coalition’ on reducing emissions to net zero would be a key goal.

Net zero is a term used to refer to cutting greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and removing what you can’t cut by planting trees or other activities and is already a goal for many countries signed up to the Paris Climate agreement.

He said it is time to ‘declare a permanent ceasefire and reconcile with nature’ in order to secure a sustainable and safe future for us and the Earth. 

Wild fire events raged in Australia, California and other parts of the world in 2020 and Guterres says unless action is taken to minimise emissions, these events will get worse

Guterres says we ‘have to go further’ to tackle the environmental issues facing the world – including having every company and city sign up to become net zero.

Speaking to the BBC World Service for a programme called State of the Planet, Guterres sets out the measures he expects nations to take to protect the Earth.  

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