UN Environment Chief: “The truth is we are failing”

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations' Environment Programme, issued a dire warning about climate change in a new interview with GZERO Media. In 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the world as standing “at the edge of an abyss,” and that next steps on climate were urgent and critical.

“I think if you ask people on Pacific islands whose lands have been lost, they've already fallen off,” Andersen told GZERO. “Or even if you ask people in California whose houses got burnt in a wildfire, they have fallen off.”

Andersen offered praise for the recent passage of the Biden Administration’s climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, but made it clear that more action is necessary to prevent the planet from reaching even higher, more dangerous temperatures.

“This is an existential threat. And yes, we are standing on the precipice,” Andersen said. “It'll take real leadership. It'll take courage. It'll take boldness. It'll take leaders understanding the responsibility that their populations have put on their shoulders when they put up their hands and said they wanted to lead their nations.”