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."

The Paris climate deal is to take effect in 2020 and calls for limiting global warming to less than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Experts warn that global warming is on track to surpass three degrees by 2100 and urge governments to do more than first planned to rein it in.

- More disasters -

The United Nations has been haunted by the dismal failure of the 2009 Copenhagen summit, when a key opportunity to turn the corner on global warming was missed when no deal was struck.

"Failure to act means more disasters and emergencies and air pollution that could cost the global economy as much as 21 trillion dollars by 2050," warned Guterres.

The UN chief will raise climate in his talks at the G20 summit in Argentina, where he will be traveling later Wednesday.

G20 countries are responsible for more than three-quarters of greenhouse emissions, he said, and they "have the power to bend the emissions curve."

In its latest report released Tuesday, the United Nations warned that several countries were not on track to meet their commitments.

The United States, the world's second biggest carbon emitter, will miss its targets, as will Australia, Canada and South Korea, the UN report said. The European Union and South Africa will also fall short.

Top emitters China and Russia are both on track, but mostly because their goals were so modest to begin with, as are Brazil, Japan and Turkey.

EU urges members to submit ambitious climate plans
Brussels (AFP) Nov 28, 2018 - The European Union on Wednesday urged government, businesses, citizens and regions to submit ambitious proposals to cut emissions and help the bloc to go carbon neutral by 2050.

Delegations from more than 200 countries are due in Poland next week for the COP24 climate summit, aimed at renewing and building on the 2015 Paris accord and limiting global warming.

The EU, whose 28 members together form one of the world's biggest and hence most polluting economies, is keen to play its part and become the first major player to be "climate neutral".

But the "strategic long-term vision" unveiled on Wednesday by EU commissioner for climate action and energy Miguel Arias Canete relies on member states, not all of whom are on the same page, to take action.

"The proposed strategy does not intend to launch new policies, nor does the European Commission intend to revise 2030 targets," the European Commission said, in the published strategy document.

"It is meant to set the direction of travel of EU climate and energy policy, and to frame what the EU considers as its long-term contribution to achieving the Paris Agreement temperature objectives."

To this end, according to a news release, the strategy is "an invitation" to European citizens, businesses and institutions "to show leadership" and to put forward ideas to limit emissions.

"Member states will submit to the European Commission, by the end of 2018, their draft national climate and energy plans," it said.

These plans will cover commitments already made to reduce greenhouse mission by 40 percent before 2030, while the strategy now aims "for a climate neutral Europe by 2050".

- Backsliding -

But -- while they all signed up in Paris for a plan to try to limit global warming to less than two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial temperatures -- the EU's members are not united on strategy.

Germany, for example, has resisted higher targets for emissions cuts on cars, and Poland -- the host of next week's global summit -- is defensive about its reliance on coal-fired power stations.

World leaders have been trying to breathe new life into the 195-nation Paris Agreement amid backsliding from several nations -- most notably the United States -- over their commitments.

The accord is to take effect in 2020, and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) now warns that its two-degree goal is already out of date.

Experts warn the temperature rise is on track to surpass three degrees by 2100 and urge governments they must do more than first planned if global warming is to be reined in at all.

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