While there remains no shortage of delusionary minds that the notion of climate change is no more than a ruse to staunch the flow of wealth to the world’s petro addicts, the leaders of some of the world’s foremost international organizations, some of whom had long been sitting on a proverbial fence on the issue of what is now seen as a climate crisis, would appear to have shifted in their chairs. Indeed, there might even be a case for claiming these high profile international organizations are beginning to throw up a new ‘breed’ of ‘high profile leaders’ who have been courageous to call a spade a spade.
Serving Executive-Secretary of the United Nations Framework Con-vention on Climate, Simon Stiel, has been one of the most recent high profile international civil servants to ‘call time’ on the pulling of punches, unambiguously declaring if we are going to be successful from the perils of climate change, we have a mere two years in which to begin to move resolutely in that direction.
Targeting governments, business leaders and development banks, Stiel said that these must all take immediate action to combat climate change or risk far worse climate impacts in the period ahead.
Heads of international organizations have not, previously, been known to step down from their bureaucratic platforms to enjoin the climate change din though Stiel, in his remarks, called unambiguously for an increase in climate finance through debt relief, cheaper funds for poorer countries, new streams of international finance and World Bank and International Monetary Fund reforms. Some of these recommendations are unlikely to sit well with the global powers in the fossil fuel industry. Asserting that “Every day, Finance Ministers, CEOs, Inves-tors, and bankers, direct trillions of dollars,” the UN official said that it was time to “shift those dollars.”
