UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that ‘the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth’ and ‘could be ice-free by 2030.’ Ban recently visited the Polar Ice Rim in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard where he observed firsthand the impact of climate change on the Arctic.

Ban promptly called on governments to achieve in the international climate change conference scheduled for December in Copenhagen an agreement to allow ‘deep cuts in emissions for gaseous pollutants.’

The UN Secretary General revealed that more distant scenarios raised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), one of the most credible scientific bodies in this area, are happening now. He explained that the Arctic is absorbing heat rather than reflect it, while the ice decreases. This speeds up global warming, he said.

The consequence is that the gas trapped in the subsoil and seabed of the planet’s pole is being released into the atmosphere. The danger this poses is that of ‘a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.’

“We are stepping on the accelerator and we’re heading into the abyss,” Ban Ki-moon warned. He urges not to further delay the negotiations and agreements to be forged at the climate conference in Copenhagen which is scheduled less than 100 days from now.

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Via UNEP