The head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, said Tuesday he was
"deeply concerned" that countries weren't doing enough to limit
global warming.
"I am deeply concerned that the scale of our action is still insufficient
to limit the global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius from
pre-industrial levels," he told climate negotiators gathered in
Warsaw
.
"Climate change threatens current and future generations -- we need to
look no further than last week's catastrophe in the
Philippines
,"
said the U.N. secretary general, referring to killer Typhoon Haiyan.
Environment ministers arrived in
Warsaw
on
Tuesday, hoping to add momentum to the troubled U.N. talks targeting a new,
global pact on climate change by 2015.
With four days left in the notoriously fractious annual negotiations, delegates
and observers said scant progress had been made, particularly on the question
of finance to help poorer nations deal with climate change.
Ban urged countries to "step up finance" and boost their commitments
to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from fossil fuel combustion.
"I urge you to construct an urgent agenda... Current pledges are simply
inadequate. We must
set the bar higher," he said.