The United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, has warned that humanity has failed to limit global heating to 1.5C and must change course immediately. In an exclusive interview ahead of next month's Cop30 climate summit, he acknowledged that overshooting the Paris Agreement target is now 'inevitable', with 'devastating consequences' for the world.
Guterres urged leaders gathering in Belém to recognise that delays in cutting emissions increase the risk of catastrophic tipping points in the Amazon, the Arctic and the oceans. 'Let's recognise our failure,' he said. 'The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5C in the next few years. And that going above 1.5C has devastating consequences.'
He stressed the need to shift direction at Cop30 to ensure the overshoot is as short and low in intensity as possible, particularly to avoid the Amazon turning into a savannah. Despite the past decade being the hottest on record, fewer than a third of nations have submitted their climate action plans under the Paris agreement. The US has abandoned the process, Europe has failed to deliver on promises, and China has been accused of undercommitting.
Guterres noted that current pledges would reduce emissions by only 10%, far short of the 60% needed to stay within 1.5C. He called for a greater presence of civil society and Indigenous communities at climate talks, saying lobbyists seek to increase profits at the expense of humankind. He also emphasised that the transition away from fossil fuels is a matter of economic self-interest, as the renewables revolution accelerates.
