Turkey. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged world leaders to cut greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate climate action, saying the climate crisis is growing faster than the world’s preparedness and response capacity.

Addressing the COP31 leaders’ summit in Antalya, Turkey, on Wednesday, he said global greenhouse gas emissions reached an all-time high in 2025 and that the last four years have become the warmest years on record.

He said that some interest groups are making huge profits from the trade of fossil fuels, but the world has to pay the price in the form of climate crisis and environmental destruction. He said that the climate-related disaster is seriously affecting people’s lives, livelihoods and economies around the world, describing the current situation as a journey towards mass destruction.

Recalling that the world had committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius through the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Guterres said it was inevitable that the limit would be temporarily exceeded. However, he said there was still room to prevent that from becoming a permanent condition and to determine how much the temperature would rise and how long it would remain high.

“Science has not asked us to surrender, it is asking us to fight harder,” he said. ”

Guterres said the climate action of the past decade has taught three key lessons: clean energy is accelerating, fossil fuels are losing their viability, and global climate action remains slow.

According to him, solar energy contributed only one percent of the world’s total electricity generation a decade ago, but last year nearly three-fourths of the increase in global electricity demand was met by solar energy. Similarly, 10 years ago, only one out of every 100 cars sold was electric, but it is estimated that about one out of every three cars sold this year will be electric cars.

“Clean energy has become the cheapest source of new power generation in most parts of the world,” he said, adding that it is expanding despite political obstacles.

He said that three-fourths of the world’s population dependent on fossil fuel imports is at risk of energy insecurity caused by price rise and international conflicts. Therefore, he stressed the need to transition to renewable energy in a science-based, just, systematic and equitable manner.

He accused interest groups in favor of fossil fuels of distorting scientific facts, delaying policy decisions and implementation, and avoiding accountability.

He said that while global emissions need to be reduced by about six percent every year, the current national plan will ensure that only a third of that can be cut. Even if these plans are fully implemented, he said, there is a risk that the Earth’s temperature rise will rise above 2.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, crossing dangerous and irreversible thresholds.

Guterres pointed to climate justice as a key challenge in the coming decade and said developing countries must be provided with the financial and technological tools they need to transition their economies. He noted that emerging and developing economies, other than China, account for nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, but they receive less than one-fifth of global clean energy investment.

Stating that most of the countries have to pay two to three times more interest than other countries to get loans, he warned of decades of dependence on fossil fuels in the absence of access to cheap clean energy.

Stressing the need of a new climate justice agreement based on shared responsibility, shared security and shared benefit, he presented four main pillars of this agreement.

First, accelerating a just transition away from fossil fuels, second, protecting people and communities from the effects of climate change, third, ensuring adequate, affordable and readily available climate finance, and fourth, prioritizing international cooperation instead of global divisions.

He said that for a just transition from fossil fuels, renewable energy generation capacity must be increased by at least three times compared to 2025 by 2035 and coal-fired power generation must be reduced by at least 75 percent. By 2040, he said, such coal-fired power generation should be almost completely phased out and the use of oil and gas should be reduced by about one-third.

He called for new coal projects and halting the construction of new oil and gas infrastructure that will hinder the achievement of the 1.5-degree target, reducing methane emissions and increasing investment in renewable energy, electricity transmission networks and energy storage. He said that conservation of forests, oceans and biodiversity should also be made an integral part of a just energy transition.

Describing climate adaptation as a matter of saving life, he said that developing countries need international support for the formulation and implementation of the new generation of national adaptation plans. He said that every person on earth should have access to early warning systems and every community should be protected from the risk of floods, droughts and sea level rise. He also stressed the need to provide loss and damage assistance quickly and easily when adaptation measures are not effective.

Regarding climate finance, developed countries should take the lead in providing at least $300 billion annually by 2035 and present a concrete plan to increase adaptation finance by at least three times by the same period. He said that the proposed target of $1.3 trillion for developing countries should translate into real financial flows.

He said the Multilateral Development Bank should provide more support than the Baku commitment, which will provide $120 billion annually by 2030, mobilize private investment and use innovative financial tools to address the needs of vulnerable developing countries. He urged donors to ensure more resources for the Green Climate Fund and the Loss and Damage Recovery Fund and expand access to technology and finance through South-South cooperation.

Guterres said the world’s nine biggest oil companies made $95 billion in profits over the past quarter, with only about $600 million in loss and damage funds.

Stating that only the amount in the fund is equal to the profits that these companies make in about 14 hours, he said that the government should tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies and spend it on the revitalization of vulnerable countries. “The polluters should pay the price,” he said.

Stressing on the need for international cooperation, he said trade barriers, technology monopolies and geopolitical competition would make the energy transition costly and difficult, leaving billions of people behind. He said that although consensus is not necessary on all issues, cooperation is essential on issues that no single country can solve alone.

Stating that the success of the climate talks should be measured not only in terms of agreements, but also in their actual implementation, he said the UN was working with different countries and partners in the areas of electricity transmission network, critical minerals, methane emissions and early warning systems.

Guterres said climate action should be taken as an opportunity to build clean economies and just societies, linking sustainable development, peace, security and human dignity.

Appreciating the contributions of youth, scientists, indigenous communities, civil society and Small Island Developing States at the forefront of climate action, he described them as moral consciousness of climate struggle.

Although he will no longer be in the post of Secretary-General of the UN next year, he pledged to continue the struggle to expose the truth about the climate crisis.

“Let’s keep speaking out about the truth about the climate crisis, keep speaking up for the action it demands, and fight for a sustainable future that is in our own hands,” he said.