00:00Today, I'm standing in the living room of my neighbour's house.
00:07My own grandmother's home down the street has been totally destroyed.
00:13Initial reports are that 98% of homes and buildings have either been destroyed or severely
00:20damaged by this most recent record-breaking hurricane Beryl.
00:26Coming back home in Carrefour, I and my community are experiencing the devastation that has
00:31become all too familiar to hundreds of millions of people all around the world.
00:37I'm also inspired by the resilience of people here and around the world, the survivors of
00:44climate-driven disasters, who tell me that material possessions are not as important
00:50as the air in their lungs and the safety of their family and loved ones.
00:55From the largest and most developed nations to the smallest and most vulnerable.
01:01Whether it's my home island of Carrefour, the United States, India, Kenya, or any other
01:09country on earth, what happens in the next three months, the next three years, to the
01:15families still living under tarpaulins, still in debt to the bank for a home that no longer
01:22stands as the next brutal storm, flood, or wildfire approaches, fueled by the climate crisis.
01:32Or the endless debt cycles of governments borrowing to rebuild only to face another
01:37climate-inflicted disaster, forced to borrow again and again to rebuild their battered
01:43infrastructure, to divert scarce resources from educating their children, providing health
01:49care and developing their nations.
01:53Tragically, this upheaval of lives and livelihoods from beryl is not unique.
02:01It is the growing cost of unchecked climate carnage in every country on earth.
02:07Globally, these storms have never been so powerful or so frequent.
02:14And so sudden and destructive, fires and droughts so devastating and costly in the
02:19immediate and longer term.
02:22Just in the past month, we've seen heatwaves with four-figure death tolls in India.
02:29Over a thousand pilgrims died on their hajj to Mecca earlier this year.
02:35Two years ago, one-third, one-third of Pakistan was underwater.
02:41Over thousands of people lost their lives.
02:46Millions were displaced and 3.5 million children were out of school.
02:51In the Caribbean and the USA, beryl developed a double blow of climate-driven pain, home-destroying
02:59force leaving literally millions without power in Texas alone amid health-endangering heat.
03:07These colossal climate costs have reached the level of severe national security threat
03:14in every country.
03:17These climate-driven disasters don't just cripple lives and communities when they hit.
03:23They inflict huge ongoing costs the world over.
03:28A recent report put the costs of inaction at $38 trillion a year until 2050.
03:36The same report says climate action will cost less than a sixth of that.
03:43Climate impacts have pushed down global food production and pushed up food prices and other
03:50costs of living.
03:52Beryl is yet more painful proof.
03:56Every year, fossil-fuel-driven climate costs are an economic wrecking ball hitting billions
04:02of households and small businesses.
04:04If governments everywhere don't step up, every economy and 8 billion people will face
04:11this blunt-force trauma head-on on a continuous basis.
04:18Rather than just counting the costs of climate carnage, all governments must supercharge
04:23efforts to prevent them.
04:25This means all governments must put climate action back at the top of cabinet agendas.
04:33First of all, we must stop making things worse.
04:37We must slash fossil-fuel pollution now and halve it this decade as science demands.
04:45The G20 are responsible for 80% of global greenhouse gas pollution.
04:52They must lead the way with game-changing new national climate plans due earlier next
04:58year, which deliver on the promise every country made last year to transition away from all
05:05fossil fuels.
05:07We need stronger adaptation plans, building resilience and protecting communities, economies,
05:14supply chains and company bottom lines currently getting hammered by global heating.
05:20Finally, climate action is an investment, not a cost, delivering returns on investment
05:27in new clean infrastructure and generating economic growth.
05:32Climate justice requires much bolder climate actions that deliver real economy and real-life results.
05:40Standing here, it's impossible not to recognise the vital importance of delivering climate
05:46finance, funding loss and damage, and investing massively in building resilience, particularly
05:53for the most vulnerable.
05:56The UN is working around the clock to play our part, bringing all nations together to
06:01agree bolder actions and with vital practical measures on the ground, like extending early
06:08warning systems to every person on earth.
06:12Our determination is unwavering.
06:15We will not relent.
06:18On this tiny island, as in the biggest cities of the world, I see determination also in
06:24the eyes of people from all walks of life.
06:29Determination not to take the climate crisis lying down or to accept half measures.
06:35To people around the world, we need your help more than ever to get more action from your
06:41governments and business leaders.
06:44The only way out of this is together.
06:48What the climate crisis did to my grandmother's house must not become humanity's new normal.
06:55We can still prevent that, but only if people everywhere speak up and demand bolder climate
07:02actions now, before it's too late.
07:18for Real-Time Updates.
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