"I think that it is clear to me that the world is more polarized. We have more and more nationalist approaches being popular and winning election or having strong election results," Guterres said. "We see the trust between public opinions and institutions ‐ governments, political establishments but also International organization ... being eroded."
The BBC journalist who interviewed Guterres pressed him on President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
"Is it a problem that the world’s most powerful man is a climate change skeptic?" BBC’s New York correspondent Nick Bryant asked Guterres.
Guterres did not criticize Trump but instead said it is more important that the fight against so-called manmade climate change should be a grassroots effort.