UN chief urges bigger greenhouse gas cuts than pledged

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is reiterating a call for world leaders to cut planet-warming emissions by 25 per cent more than pledged under the 2015 Paris climate accord.

Guterres held a news conference Thursday to urge countries to focus on “closing the emissions gap.”

He has stressed the issue before and plans a 2019 summit to try to mobilize more ambitious climate action.

He asked Thursday: “How many more alarm bells must go off before the world rises to the challenge?”

Under the Paris agreement, nations set individual goals for carbon dioxide emissions in the 2020s. Scientists have said those targets won’t meet an overall aim of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times.

The U.S. has announced it’s withdrawing from the agreement.