Days before key climate talks in Scotland, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that global efforts to cut emissions of planet-heating gases and other steps are still not enough to avert “climate catastrophe”.
Speaking in New York on Tuesday, the secretary general said the climate pledges made before the Cop26 meeting in Glasgow would still result in 2.7°C of global warming — more than the planet can handle safely.
He spoke at the release of the UN’s 2021 Emissions Gap Report, which tracks the climate commitments made by governments and assesses whether they are enough to keep global warming in check.
“Today I have bad news,” Mr Guterres told reporters. “Less than one week before Cop26 in Glasgow, we are still on track for climate catastrophe.”
The global climate summit, hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, kicks off in Glasgow on October 31. Britain has cast the summit as the last big chance for countries to commit to slowing rising temperatures.
This week’s UN report tracks progress towards a 2015 deal in Paris to cut pollution and limit global warming to 1.5°C over pre-industrial times this century and lower the risk of fires, droughts, floods and other weather disasters.
The UN says that the latest round of climate pledges that are being unveiled before the Glasgow meeting — the so-called Nationally Determined Contributions — still fall badly short of what is needed.
“The new plans will reduce predicted 2030 emissions by just 7.5 per cent beyond what was already committed,” said Mr Guterres.
“As the report demonstrates — the world would need seven times more ambition to keep on the 1.5°C track.”
Under the Paris deal, governments are expected to phase out coal and other carbon-emitting dirty fossil fuels in favour of solar, wind and other cleaner energy sources and to clean up industry, transport, agriculture and other sectors.
Mr Guterres blamed a “leadership gap” and urged the politicians headed to Glasgow to raise their ambitions for tackling climate change, saying the “era of half measures and hollow promises must end”.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
UAE group fixtures
Sunday Feb 23, 9.30am, v Iran
Monday Feb 25, 1pm, v Kuwait
Tuesday Feb 26, 9.30am, v Saudi
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza, Rohan Mustafa, Alishan Sharafu, Ansh Tandon, Vriitya Aravind, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Basil Hameed, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Ayaz, Zahoor Khan, Chirag Suri, Sultan Ahmed
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Results
Ashraf Ghani 50.64 per cent
Abdullah Abdullah 39.52 per cent
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 3.85 per cent
Rahmatullah Nabil 1.8 per cent
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
more from Janine di Giovanni
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
