The UN skewers world leaders' handling of the climate crisis, saying countries are 'utterly failing' and 'way off track'

• The United Nations chief said countries are "utterly failing" to meet climate goals.
• A UN report found the world is "way off track" to reduce global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

United Nations Chief António Guterres said in a speech that countries are "utterly failing" to fight the climate crisis, according to a UN report released Monday that found countries' pledges to reduce carbon emissions are falling significantly short of targets.

"The emissions gap is the result of a leadership gap," Guterres told reporters on Tuesday. "But leaders can still make this a turning point to a greener future instead of a tipping point to climate catastrophe."

The Paris agreement set a goal to keep global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, but the UN report found countries are falling behind. Unless action is taken quickly, temperatures could rise to about 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

In addition, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) - a UN body - said on Monday that carbon dioxide has risen by more than the 10-year average in 2020 to 413.2 part per million, despite the world economy slowing during the pandemic.

"We are way off track," WMO's Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said, adding that carbon dioxide levels haven't been this high for at least 3 million years.

All of this information comes a week before dozens of world leaders meet in Glasgow for the UN's climate summit. This will be the first time the US is participating in the summit since rejoining the Paris agreement - President Donald Trump had withdrawn the country from the pledge during his term - and President Joe Biden previously expressed concerns with the how the US is addressing the climate ahead of the summit.

"The prestige of the United States is on the line," Biden told a group of progressive lawmakers last week, according to California Rep. Ro Khanna. "I need this to go represent the United States overseas. I need people to see that the Democratic Party is working, that the country is working, that we can govern."

Biden's concern stems from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's opposition to his economic and climate agenda as the two centrist holdouts. Biden's campaign proposal of the Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), which would cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, was cut from Democrats' reconciliation bill due to Manchin's opposition.

Now, Democrats are working to develop a framework that would meet the needs of the climate without CEPP, but as Guterres said, time is running out to address global warming before it becomes an "existential threat to humanity." And especially following a UN report in August saying some of global warming's effects will be "irreversible for centuries to millennia," pressure is ramping up on Biden and other countries in meeting the urgency of climate change.