Fossil fuels are main culprit of ice loss in Antarctica warns António Guterres ahead of COP28

New Delhi: As world leaders start gathering at the world’s largest climate summit COP28 in Dubai, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres visited the world’s most fargile ecology Antarctica, saying melting of ice could be catastrophic.

“What happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica,” he said.

António Guterres visited Antarctica where he saw first-hand how climate change is impacting the world’s southernmost continent, which is mostly covered in ice.

“In Antarctica, I saw for myself & heard from scientists how is accelerating in dangerous ways. Climate change is wreaking havoc. Fossil fuels are the main culprit” he said.

Mr Guterres said COP28, leaders must act to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C and end the fossil fuel age.

“I am alarmed by what is happening in Antarctica where the evidence overwhelmingly shows that there is an acceleration of melting of ice, which could be catastrophic to coastal communities everywhere” he further added.

Antarctic sea ice is at an all-time low. New figures show that this September, it was 1.5 million square kilometers smaller than the average for the time of year “an area roughly the size of Portugal, Spain, France and Germany combined.”

Mr. Guterres noted that the Greenland ice sheet is also melting fast, losing over 250 gigatons of ice every year.

“Antarctica has been called the sleeping giant, but it is now being awoken by climate chaos, the UN Secretary General has warned.

He also urged them to protect people from climate chaos, and end the fossil fuel age, saying “We must not let all hopes for a sustainable planet melt away”.

The UN chief will visit Professor Julio Escudero research base on Saturday where he will be briefed by scientists.

In 2021, the UN’s climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released its latest estimates of future sea-level rise.

It projected a global average sea level rise of between 0.28m and 1.01m by 2100, one key reason being the melting of glaciers and ice sheets.

The rapid melting of West Antarctica’s ice sheet due to warm waters around it is now unavoidable, no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, according to a new study.

If lost completely, the ice sheet would raise the global mean sea level by 5.3 meters or 17.4 feet, a potentially devastating consequence for millions of people living in vulnerable coastal cities across the world, including in India.