UN secretary-general’s call to youth for climate change action: ‘Be as noisy as possible.’

The United Nations secretary-general is encouraging youth to pressure older generations to act on climate change.

Speaking to students at AUT on Monday, UN secretary-general António Guterres said his generation was not capable of tackling climate change.

“We are not winning the battle against climate change…my generation is not showing the capacity.”

The international community’s most coordinated effort on climate was the 2015 Paris Agreement, but Mr Guterres said these goals were not even close to being met.

“Paris fixed a goal. But the commitments made at Paris were not enough to meet that goal and we are not even fulfilling those commitments.”

According to Mr Guterres, the commitments made would still allow warming to rise by 3C, double the agreed goal of 1.5C.

However, Mr Guterres’ appeal for youth to fight climate change, which he described as the defining issue of our time, was met with some scepticism from some in the room.

One student from the floor addressed Mr Guterres, introducing his question as being “about the global extinction crisis”.

Mr Guterres, who speaks four languages, had trouble understanding the question. The student said: “Our species is dying out...and by the time our generation is in power, it will be too late to do anything about it.”

Mr Guterres, who is 70 years old, responded by saying youth do not need to be in power to get results and should pressure their parents and governments into action.

“I’m not waiting for you to be in power. I’m waiting for you to be as noisy as possible!

“It is clear that my generation is having immense difficulty accepting responsibility. The youth are my hope.”

The UN secretary-general made two policy recommendations for reducing climate emissions: to tax carbon instead of income and to ensure the government is not subsidising fossil fuel industries.

AUT student association president Dharyin Colbert said to Debate that Mr Guterres starting his Pacific tour at AUT meant a lot to the youth.

“The focus on youth leadership is something we don’t hear often enough,” he said.

“Just the fact that he understands the importance of climate change is incredible.”