UN Chief António Guterres Launches Global Methane Action Plan Amid Escalating Climate Crisis

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has issued the strong warning about the growing dangers of the climate change. He was speaking in the London during the period of the unusually high temperatures and he unveiled a new global Call to Action on Methane and urged the governments, industries, and technology companies to take the immediate steps to reduce emissions.

Why Guterres Says the Climate Crisis Is Becoming Unavoidable

Addressing the policymakers and climate leaders, Guterres highlighted that the increasingly visible impacts of the climate change across the globe.

From prolonged heatwaves and droughts to devastating floods and storms communities and the economies are already experiencing the significant losses.

According to the recent climate assessments, human activities have increased the global temperatures by approximately 1.37°C which is above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists now expect that the world to reach the symbolic 1.5°C warming threshold before the end of this decade if emissions continue at the current rates.

Guterres has warned that the prolonged warming beyond this level could increase the risk of the crossing critical planetary tipping points and it potentially leading to the irreversible environmental damage.

Why Methane Has Become a Global Priority

While carbon dioxide remains as the largest contributor to the long-term global warming, methane is attracting the increasing attention because of its powerful short-term impact.

Methane is estimated to be around 80 times more potent than the carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

Although it remains in the atmosphere for the shorter time but warming effect is significantly stronger.

This means that to reducing the methane emissions could deliver faster climate benefits and helps to slow global warming in the near term.

What Is the UN’s New Call to Action on Methane?

The newly launched Call to Action on Methane focuses on to accelerating the emissions reductions across three major sectors,

1. Fossil Fuel Industry

2. Agriculture Sector

3. Waste Management Sector

The UN is also calling for the,

• Elimination of the open dumping
• Better landfill management
• Methane capture technologies
• Expansion of circular economy practices

Global Methane Pledge Gains Momentum

The new initiative also builds on the Global Methane Pledge launched during the COP26 and strengthened at COP27.

Currently, 159 countries and the European Commission supported this pledge and committing to reduce the methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared with 2020 levels.

While the methane monitoring has improved worldwide, Guterres has stressed that the actual emissions reductions must now accelerate to meet the climate goals.

UN Raises Concerns About AI’s Environmental Footprint

In addition to the methane emissions, Guterres has also addressed the rapidly growing environmental impact of the artificial intelligence.

The expansion of the AI technologies is driving massive growth in data centers which requires the significant amounts of electricity, land, and water.

Recent estimates indicate:

• Data centers consumed approximately around 448 terawatt-hours of electricity in the year 2025.
• AI-related workloads account for  about 20% of total data center demand.
• AI electricity consumption could also reach to the 945 terawatt-hours annually by 2030.
• Associated emissions could rise to nearly 400 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent each year.

Global Urban Data Centres Pact Announced

Another major announcement during the London event was the launch of the Global Urban Data Centres Pact.

Thirty-six cities from the six different continents have joined the initiative which represents nearly 80 million people worldwide.

Participating cities includes the,

• Barcelona
• Melbourne
• Johannesburg
• Rio de Janeiro
• Miami
• Phoenix