The UN Secretary-General today urged the world leaders meeting at the climate summit to put an end to their ‘fossil fuel addiction’ in the face of a crisis that worsens faster than the response of governments.
© Lusa
11/11/2026
by
Lusa
O uN Secretary-General today urged the world leaders meeting at the climate summit to put an end to their ‘fossil fuel addiction’ in the face of a crisis that worsens faster than the response of governments.
“ Fossil fuels must follow the path of dinosaurs, but that won't happen alone. Dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do,” said António Guterres at the 31st United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP31), which is taking place in Antalia, Turkey, criticizing the fossil fuel industry and its efforts to hinder energy transition, although renewable energy is already a cheap option.
The UN Secretary-General accused these interests of distorting science and delaying political decisions, urging decision-makers to halt the expansion of oil, gas and coal production and to proclaim their commitment to climate targets.
Guterres warned that the current national emission reduction commitments are insufficient and would lead, even if fulfilled, to a warming of about 2.5 degrees Celsius (oC) by the end of the century, stressing that solar energy, which a decade ago represented just over 1% of the electricity consumed in the world, covered almost three quarters of demand growth last year.
Through the Paris Agreement, reached at COP21 in 2015, countries undertook to prevent world temperatures from rising above 2oC in relation to pre-industrial times and preferably not exceeding 1.5oC.
The leader of the United Nations also defended a new “climate justice pact” that guarantees funding for vulnerable countries, whose loan costs are much higher than those of developed economies, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
He denounced, by the way, that the nine largest oil companies made profits of US$95 billion (about EUR 85 billion) in the last quarter, a figure that compared with the approximately US$600 million (EUR 538.6 million) donated to the international fund for losses and damage to help poor countries cope with the damage caused by climate change.
“ This is what these companies earn in about 14 hours,” Guterres said, defending the taxation of their extraordinary profits to finance the recovery of countries affected by climate disasters.
“Who polluis should pay,” he added.
It also called on countries to overcome their trade and geopolitical rivalries and to work together to speed up the energy transition, which, it considered, “no one can solve alone”.
Guterres, who quit at the end of the year, told the leaders that his “first climate duty is to tell the truth.”.
He added that “the hard truth is that the climate crisis is moving faster” than the results of policies to combat global warming and climate change.
COP31, which brings together representatives from almost 200 countries, began on Monday and will run until November 20.