UN chief says 'immediate and drastic' emissions cuts needed to avert climate change catastrophe

ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — The world must immediately and drastically cut fossil fuel emissions to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday at his final climate summit, urging the world to “follow the science” and face hard facts.

“You cannot build peace on a burning planet," Guterres told reporters, stressing that climate change is central to the U.N.'s work because it contributes to geopolitical instability by driving hunger and displacement, pushing countries into debt and fueling competition for land and water.

“You cannot eradicate poverty when climate disasters keep throwing people back into it,” he added. “You cannot promise young people a better future while destroying the natural systems on which that future depends. And you cannot speak seriously about justice when those who did least to cause this crisis suffer first and worst.”

World leaders meeting in Turkey for the annual U.N. climate talks are trying to reach consensus on concrete actions to address climate change — which is fueling more intense and deadly heat waves, droughts, floods and other disasters — and help countries at greatest risk, including island nations that also are losing land to rising seas.

Achieving reductions in emissions is setting up a point of contention at the climate talks, especially around electrification. A goal introduced this year would increase the share of electricity in total global energy consumption from roughly 21% to 35% by 2035, preferably from renewable energy such as solar and wind.

But it does not require that electricity be generated by renewable sources — something Guterres said is essential — meaning coal and other fossil fuels could be used, at least initially. Climate TRACE, which tracks global emissions via satellites, found that prioritizing clean energy would cut global emissions 14% compared to 7% if fossil fuels also are used for electrification.

International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said it's more important that as many countries as possible sign on to the pledge, which works best without a clean energy requirement.

But environmental groups say that electrification will only have a real impact if fossil fuels are omitted.

“Electrification must end fossil fuel dependence, not be an end in itself,” said Jasmin Duregger, from Greenpeace's Global Gas Campaign.

Leaders from countries ravaged by climate change — mostly poorer, vulnerable countries that contributed little to the problem — also are calling for more money to deal with climate disasters and adapt to a warming world. Leaders of small island nations, who say climate change is a life-or-death matter for their people because rising seas are engulfing their lands, have been the most vocal at this year’s summit, COP31, saying a U.N. fund created for compensating vulnerable nations must be urgently strengthened.

Guterres said wealthier countries that have contributed most to climate change “must deliver the finance they have promised” at past summits — but also contribute much more.

“Let us be clear about the scale of the gap,” he said. “Even tripling adaptation finance would meet less than 30 percent of what is needed.”

Progress is difficult without the cooperation of all nations, “particularly the biggest emitters,” Guterres said.

A report released Thursday by the independent Climate Action Tracker found that progress in slowing global warming has essentially stalled for the past five years. That means the world is sure to overshoot the goal set in the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures.

Climate change is caused primarily by greenhouse gases emitted by burning gas, oil and coal, and countries have established plans to reduce those emissions. But even if they fulfill all their promises — a big if — the globe will end the century 2.6 degrees Celsius (4.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, the report said.

“Our responsibility is to keep it as small as possible, for as short a time as possible and bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees as quickly as we can,” by cutting emissions about 6% per year for several years, Guterres said, calling the overshoot “a recipe for catastrophe.”

But some of the top-polluting countries stayed away from this year's summit, most notably the United States — the world’s second-largest polluter after China and the largest historical polluter.

It's the second year in a row the U.S. skipped the summit, after President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from climate negotiations.

“Facts are facts,” Guterres said. “No country can protect itself from climate change alone. We share one planet, and whether we like it or not, we share one fate.”

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan; Borenstein from Kensington, Maryland; and Delgado from Bangkok.

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