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U.N. secretary-general appoints new special envoy for climate action ahead of COP25

By Daniel Uria
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed a new special envoy for climate action and called for greater efforts to combat the climate crisis ahead of the start of COP25 on Monday. File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed a new special envoy for climate action and called for greater efforts to combat the climate crisis ahead of the start of COP25 on Monday. File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Bank of England head Mark Carney will serve as the United Nations' new special envoy for climate action, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced Sunday.

Guterres announced Carney's roll will include constructing frameworks for financial risk management and returns for the United Nations.

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Members of the U.N. Convention on Climate Change are set to meet in Madrid for COP25 on Monday through Dec. 9.

"We need unprecedented climate action on a global scale. And public and private financial systems must be transformed to provide the necessary finance to transition to low-emission and resilient systems and sectors," a statement from Guterres' office said.

As the nearly 200 members of the UNFCC prepared for the meeting to assess the implementation of their efforts to combat the global climate crisis through the convention and the Paris Agreement, Guterres delivered a stern warning.

"The last five years have been the hottest ever recorded. Sea Levels are rising at the highest in human history," he said. "The point of no return is no longer over the horizon. It is in sight and is hurtling towards us."

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Despite this, Guterres said he was delivering a message of "hope not despair," noting that limiting warming this century to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit is still within reach.

"The technologies that are necessary to make this possible are already available," he said. "The signals of hope are multiplying. Public opinion is waking up everywhere. Young people are showing remarkable leadership and mobilization."

The United States will lead a bicameral delegation to COP25 of 15 Congressional Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"Taking action to protect our planet is a public health decision for clean air and clean water for our children, an economic decision for creating green, good-paying jobs of the future, a national security decision to address resource competition and climate migration and also a moral decision to be good stewards of God's creation and pass a sustainable, healthy planet to the next generation," Pelosi said in a statement.

The Trump administration is sending a delegation to the summit, headed by Marcia Bernicat, a deputy assistant secretary of state, despite beginning the process of formally withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement that the United States joined in 2016.

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