The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the world is running out of time to contain the climate crisis.
Guterres called for an accelerated transition from fossil fuels, increased climate financing and urgent action to protect vulnerable countries from worsening global warming.
The Secretary-General on Wednesday said global emissions needed to decline by approximately six per cent annually, warning that existing national climate commitments were insufficient to prevent dangerous temperature increases, despite growing investments in renewable energy.
He urged developed countries to deliver at least $300bn annually in climate finance by 2035, ensuring that the wider $1.3tn financing ambition translated into actual funding for developing countries that are still working to improve their industrial capacity, infrastructure, income levels, healthcare, education and living standards.
He stated, “Developed countries must lead in delivering at least $300 billion a year by 2035, and set out concrete plans with clear milestones to at least triple adaptation finance by then.
“The $1.3tn goal must become real finance flowing to developing countries and this demands that every source of finance pull its weight.”
Guterres spoke at the World Leaders Summit of the ongoing 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP31, in Antalya, Türkiye, where Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also called for stronger international cooperation, climate financing and practical interventions to address the crisis.
The World Leaders Summit at COP31 brings together heads of state and government, alongside senior international officials, to discuss urgent climate challenges, strengthen global cooperation and translate climate commitments into concrete action.
The summit, attended by our correspondent, opened with a 30-minute cultural performance celebrating Türkiye’s heritage, featuring the renowned Fire of Anatolia dance ensemble.
The performance brought together traditional folk dances, music, colourful costumes and contemporary choreography to portray the historical meeting of civilisations in Anatolia.
The presentation reflected the region’s position as a historical crossroads between Europe and Asia, where different cultures, trade routes and civilisations have interacted over centuries.
The Fire of Anatolia, established in 1999, is known for combining traditional Anatolian folk dances with ballet and modern dance to promote cultural unity and peace.
The cultural display provided an opening message of coexistence and cooperation ahead of the leaders’ discussions on a climate crisis that increasingly requires countries to work across political and economic differences.
Addressing the summit, Guterres said the world must confront the reality that climate change was advancing faster than governments’ responses.
“Our first climate duty is to tell the truth. The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us. Emissions in 2025 reached all-time highs. Heat records keep shattering. The last four years were the hottest ever,” he said.
He criticised fossil fuel interests for continuing to profit from activities contributing to global warming, warning that climate disasters were increasingly destroying lives, livelihoods and economies.
“Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, but that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do,” Guterres said in Turkey at his final UN climate summit as secretary-general.
He recalled that countries had pledged under the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but said scientific evidence suggested that a temporary overshoot was now inevitable.
However, he argued that the prospect of exceeding the target should not become an excuse for inaction.
“Science tells us an overshoot above that level is now inevitable. But science is not telling us to surrender. It’s telling us to fight harder.
“The truth is that we have the power to determine how high, how long and how devastating that overshoot will be. We have the power to make sure the overshoot is a temporary breach, not a permanent sentence,” he said.
