UNIS/SGSM/1345
13 September 2023
The international treaties to protect the ozone layer have made a dramatic and measurable difference to protecting people and planet. They show the power of multilateralism. And they should inspire hope that, together, we can avert the worst of climate change and build a sustainable and resilient world.
Limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible if we immediately and drastically accelerate climate action. I have proposed a Climate Solidarity Pact and an Acceleration Agenda to help achieve this. I urge all leaders to work together to put them into effect – and to support these efforts by getting behind the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and limiting planet-heating hydrofluorocarbons.
Fully ratifying and implementing the Kigali Amendment could avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by 2100. Combining the transition away from planet-heating gases with energy efficiency measures in cooling equipment could double this figure.
I call on all countries to ratify the Amendment. And I urge governments, along with business leaders, civil society, academia, youth groups, local communities, and others, to intensify efforts to bring about real change, and to ensure developing countries have the support they need to do so.
Let’s harness the spirit of the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol to build a world where humans, nature and the planet thrive together.
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Barbados signed and deposited its instrument of ratification for the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the “Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships”) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 8 May 2025.
Journalists are invited to cover the 34th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) to be held from 19 to 23 May in Vienna, Austria.
"On this Day of Vesak, I extend my warmest wishes to Buddhists worldwide as they commemorate the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha." — António Guterres
"In a world plagued by conflict and division, World Press Freedom Day highlights a fundamental truth: Freedom for people depends on freedom of the press." — António Guterres
