UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday in Santiago that he would visit Antarctica alongside Chile's President Gabriel Boric, to witness firsthand "the deadly impact of the climate crisis."
The two men will arrive in Antarctica on Thursday, and will visit three Chilean scientific bases, the Collins glacier and Kopaitic Island, before returning to Chile on Saturday.
They will also participate in the launching of a weather balloon.
The Chilean presidency said the aim of the visit was to "highlight the effects of global warming and call for joint efforts on a global scale to mitigate the effects of climate change."
Ahead of the COP28 climate summit, which starts next week in Dubai, Guterres urged world leaders to "redouble their efforts dramatically, with record ambitions, record actions, and record emissions reductions."
The UN warned Monday that the planet is on a path for disastrous heating of between 2.5C and 2.9C by 2100.