António Guterres is heading into his final climate summit as UN secretary-general with an unusually blunt admission. Speaking to the Associated Press, he said holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is no longer realistic, and that political leaders have failed to stop the planet from heating to dangerous levels.
According to Guterres, scientists made clear to him back in 2025 that the target could no longer honestly be presented as within reach. The task now, he argues, is to keep the overshoot as small and as brief as possible.
He also has a clear idea of who should pick up a larger part of the bill. Guterres wants governments to tax the windfall profits of oil, gas and coal companies and pass the revenue to the countries hit hardest by droughts, floods and storms, many of which have done little to cause the problem.
His message is not entirely bleak. Solar and wind power, he pointed out, now undercut fossil fuels on price in many markets, and leaning on oil and gas leaves states exposed whenever a war or crisis disrupts supply, a point few governments can ignore this year.
The COP31 talks open on Monday in Antalya, Turkey, and run until November 20, with Turkey as host and Australia steering the negotiations. For Guterres, who steps down at the end of December after two five-year terms, it is his last turn on the climate stage. He called the summit “a moment of truth”.
