‘3X more people displaced by disasters than war’- A warning at COP 27

Three times more people are displaced by climate disasters than war, United Nations chief António Guterres said at the crucial COP27 conference in Egypt on Monday as the global body sounded "early warnings for the world. With half of humanity living in danger zones, he underlined, "ever-rising greenhouse gas emissions are supercharging extreme weather events" worldwide. This year's climate conference is taking place at the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

India pitched for green energy on day 1 of the critical event. Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav - who is attending the summit - wrote in a blog: "There is a realisation that since human action is the cause of the current crisis, human action must also lead to solutions."

India lies between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, the region where most vulnerable countries fall, the union minister noted as he also backed the UN's 'Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan' at the roundtable. "Public expenditure and loss of revenue caused by natural disasters have already begun to rise in this region with the least coping capacity," the union minister noted.

With early warning systems put in place, mortality from cyclones has been reduced by up to 90 per cent over the last 15 years, the union environment minister highlighted.

As climate finance continues to be a crucial focus of the conference, UN Executive Action Plan - unveiled by Guterres on Monday - further underlined that it would cost "the equivalent of just 50 cents per person per year for the next five years to reach everyone on Earth with early warnings against increasingly extreme and dangerous weather".

Meanwhile, a report - released ahead of the summit - has revealed that developing countries would need about $1 trillion by the end oft the decade in external financing for climate action.

The report was commissioned by current and former climate conference hosts, Egypt and Britain, as per news agency Reuters.

"Unlocking substantial climate finance is the key to solving today's development challenges. This means countries must have access to affordable, sustainable low-cost financing from the multilateral development banks to help crowd in investments from the private sector and philanthropy," Vera Songwe, one of the report's authors, was quoted as saying.

Following his warning to world leaders, the UN chief in a tweet wrote: "We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator. Our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We need urgent Climate Action."

The United Nations has been reiterating one goal - CO2 emissions need to be cut 45 per cent by 2030, "compared to 2010 levels to meet the central Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century"

The conference will go on till 16 November. "COP27 creates a unique opportunity in 2022 for the world to unite, to make multilateralism work by restoring trust and coming together at the highest levels to increase our ambition and action in fighting climate change," reads a statement.