WELLINGTON, June 5: The United Nations urged the world on Thursday to kick the habit of producing carbon dioxide, saying everyone must act to fight climate change.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said global warming was becoming the era’s defining issue and would hurt the rich and the poor.

“Our world is in the grip of a dangerous carbon habit,” Ban said in a statement on World Environment Day, which is being marked by events around the globe and hosted by the New Zealand city of Wellington.

“Addiction is a terrible thing. It consumes and controls us, makes us deny important truths and blinds us to the consequences of our actions,” he said in the speech to reinforce this year’s World Environment Day theme of “CO2 Kick the Habit.”

World Environment Day, conceived in 1972, is the United Nations’ principal day to mark global green issues and aims to give a human face to environmental problems and solutions.

New Zealand, which boasts snow-capped mountains, pristine fjords and isolated beaches used as the backdrop for the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, has pledged to become carbon-neutral.

“We take pride in our clean, green identity as a nation and we are determined to take action to protect it. We appreciate that protecting the climate means behaviour change by each and every one of us,” said New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

New Zealand staged art and street festivals to spread the message on how people can reduce carbon usage.—Reuters