UN climate talks need compromise, not stubbornness: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged leaders at the UN climate conference kicking off next week to set aside stubbornness and instead compromise to seal a deal on implementing the Paris climate accord.

Guterres will join delegates from nearly 200 countries at the COP24 conference that opens Sunday in the southern Polish city of Katowice, with the aim of agreeing a plan to move forward on the 2015 climate deal.

World leaders have been trying to breathe new life into the Paris Agreement following the US decision to pull out of the deal and backsliding from several nations over commitments made.

"At the moment, we are headed for a world of cataclysm and uncertainty due to climate disruption," Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters.

He called on governments to show ambition and leadership to meet the climate challenges, adding that "leadership is also the capacity to compromise."
"Leadership is to understand that the agreement is the most important objective. That, more than to be very stubborn in staying in each one's position." "It is very important to fill the need to compromise and to find something that can be acceptable for everybody in order for Katowice to be a success."
G20 countries are responsible for more than three-quarters of greenhouse emissions, he said, and they "have the power to bend the emissions curve."