NEW DELHI: The world has only two years left to avert climate catastrophe, UN climate chief Simon Stiell warned on Wednesday in an emotive speech titled “Two years to save the world.”

Stiell called on countries to urgently strengthen their climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), under the Paris Agreement. Current NDCs will barely reduce emissions by 2030, he said, despite the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s warning that global greenhouse gas emissions must peak before 2025 and fall 43% by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5°C.

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“As of today, NDCs — in aggregate will barely cut emissions at all by 2030. We still have a chance to make greenhouse gas emissions tumble, with a new generation of national climate plans,” Stiell said, speaking at the Chatham House in London. “But we need these stronger plans, now. And while every country must submit a new plan, the reality is G20 emissions are around 80% of global emissions.”

Stiell emphasised that a new climate finance deal at the UN Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku in November will be crucial for developing countries to strengthen their NDCs. He called on developed and developing nations to agree on a deal with more concessional finance, new funding sources, reformed development banks, and debt relief for the most vulnerable countries.

The remarks come as global temperatures continue to soar. March was the tenth consecutive month to be the hottest on record. The global average temperature in the last twelve months (April 2023 – March 2024) is the highest on record at 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Tuesday.

COP29 will be critical for countries like India, which have demanded immediate delivery of climate finance by developed nations. India’s environment minister Bhupender Yadav has stressed that trillions of dollars in accessible, affordable finance will be needed by 2030.

The UN expert laid particular emphasis on the need for G7 and G20 nations to do more. Without bolder climate action, supply chain disruptions and inflation will worsen dramatically, he added.

With 64 countries holding elections this year, including the U.S. presidential race, Stiell appealed to voters to choose climate action. “The only surefire way to get climate at the top of the cabinet agenda is if enough people raise their voices,” he said.

Seill also stressed on the need for a “quantum leap” to address inequalities and climate finance. “Because it’s hard for any government to invest in renewables or climate resilience when the treasury coffers are bare, debt servicing costs have overtaken health spending, new borrowing is impossible, and the wolves of poverty are at the door. A quantum leap this year in climate finance is both essential and entirely achievable,” he added.

He added that such a deal should have four key components: one more concessional finance, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable countries; two, new sources of international climate finance; three, reformed development banks to make them work better for developing countries; and four, debt relief for countries that need it most to give them the fiscal space for climate investment.

“Developing countries spent more than four hundred billion dollars servicing debts last year,” Stiell emphasised.

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Environment minister Yadav on December 15 said that India has been continuously highlighting two major concerns of the global south – technology and climate finance. “At G20, held under India’s Presidency, it was agreed that the climate finance requirement will be to the tune of trillions of dollars by 2030. And that this should be available, accessible and affordable,” he said in an interview at the time.