'Pay up or humanity will pay the price', Guterres warns world leaders at COP29 climate summit

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday that leaders gathered in Baku for the COP29 Climate Action Summit must take immediate steps to cut emissions, safeguard people from climate chaos, and "tear down the walls to climate finance" in response to the "masterclass in climate destruction" that the world has witnessed in 2024.

"The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And time is not on our side," he warned.

In his opening remarks to the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, the ministerial-level segment of COP29, which officially opened on Tuesday in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku, Guterres pointed to the proof, noting that 2024 is almost certain to be the hottest year ever recorded.

Meanwhile, "no country is spared" from climate destruction ranging from hurricanes to boiling seas, drought ravaged crops, and more, all being supercharged by human-made climate change.

'Avoidable injustice'

In the global economy, supply chain shocks raise costs – everywhere: Decimated harvests push up global food prices; destroyed homes increase all insurance premiums.

"This is a story of avoidable injustice: The rich cause the problem, the poor pay the highest price," stated the UN chief, noting that Oxfam has found that the richest billionaires emit more carbon in an hour and a half than the average person does in a lifetime.

"Unless emissions plummet and adaptation soars," he emphasized that "every economy will face far greater fury."

'Reason to hope'

But there is every reason to hope, the Secretary-General continued, pointing to the solid steps that had been taken last year at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates.

In the UAE, all countries had agreed to move away from fossil fuels; to accelerate net zero energy systems, setting milestones to get there; to boost climate adaptation; and to align the next round of economy-wide national climate plans – or NDCs – with the 1.5-degree limit set at Paris.

"It's time to deliver," he said stressing that a poll by the University of Oxford and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had found that eighty percent of people around the world want more climate action. In addition, "scientists, activists, and young people are demanding change – they must be heard, not silenced."

The UN chief went on to note that last year – for the first time – the amount invested in grids and renewables overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels and today, almost everywhere, solar and wind are the cheapest source of new electricity.

"Doubling down on fossil fuels is absurd. The clean energy revolution is here. No group, no business, and no government can stop it. But you can and must ensure it is fair, and fast enough to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius" he explained.

Three focus priorities

With all this in mind, Guterres said, "developing countries must not leave Baku empty-handed" and urged world leaders at COP29 to focus on three areas for immediate action:

Make emergency emissions reductions – cutting emissions by nine per cent every year towards 43 per cent of 2019 levels by 2030. This is the clearest pat to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Do more to protect people from the ravages of the climate crisis. The gap between adaptation needs and finance could reach up to $359 billion a year by 2030. The missing dollars are not abstractions on a balance sheet: they are lives taken, harvests lost, and development denied.

Tear down the walls to climate finance by agreeing a new finance goal that contains a significant increase in concessional public finance; a clear indication of how public finance will mobilise the trillions of dollars developing countries need; taps innovative sources; sets out a framework for greater accessibility, transparency, and accountability; and boosts lending capacity for bigger and bolder multilateral development banks.

'Pay up or pay the price'

"On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price," emphasized the UN chief telling world leaders that "you and your governments must be guided by a clear truth: Climate finance is not charity, it's an investment; climate action is not optional, it's imperative."