UN secretary general António Guterres has declared the failure to limit global heating to 1.5C a “moral failure and deadly negligence” at the opening of the Cop30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil. Speaking to heads of state from more than 30 countries, Guterres warned that even a temporary overshoot would have “dramatic consequences”, pushing ecosystems past catastrophic tipping points and exposing billions to unliveable conditions.
Guterres called the 1.5C target a “red line” for a habitable planet and urged a “paradigm shift” to minimise the effects of overshoot. “Every fraction of a degree means more hunger, displacement and loss – especially for those least responsible. This is moral failure – and deadly negligence,” he said. The World Meteorological Organization confirmed that greenhouse gas emissions had risen to a record high, with 2025 on track to be the second or third warmest year ever recorded.
Guterres noted some progress, with many countries putting forward more ambitious emissions-cutting plans, but said it was not fast enough. If fully implemented, the world would still be on a pathway to about 2.3C of warming, which is better than 20 years ago but still dangerous. He criticised the oil, gas and coal industries for holding back change, saying they commanded vast subsidies and political support to the detriment of everyone else.
The summit takes place amid global turbulence, with the US leading an attack on international collaboration. China’s vice-premier Ding Xuexiang made a thinly veiled reference to US tariffs, saying the green transition depended on free flow of technology and removal of trade barriers. Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro had harsh words for the absent US president, calling him “literally against humankind” and blaming petroleum industry lobbyists for the world lurching from climate change to climate collapse.
Prince William noted the world was moving perilously close to tipping points in natural systems, and stressed the need to recognise Indigenous people as climate leaders. Countries in the global south want industrialised nations to provide support for adaptation and energy transition, but financial commitments fall far short of the $1.3tn a year agreed at Cop29. Guterres said developed countries must lay out a clear path to that goal, while UK prime minister Keir Starmer told the summit the UK was “all in” on tackling the climate crisis.
