Climate crisis has ‘opened the gates to hell’, UN chief tells summit

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday told world leaders humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels had “opened the gates to hell” as he kicked off a climate meeting where leading polluters China and the United States were conspicuously absent. Despite increasing extreme weather events and record-shattering global temperatures, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and oil and gas companies reap handsome profits. Guterres has thus billed the “Climate Ambition Summit” as a “no nonsense” forum where leaders or cabinet ministers will announce specific actions that deliver on their commitments under the Paris Agreement. In his opening speech, he evoked 2023’s “horrendous…