United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued a stark warning to world leaders at the 31st Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey, stating that the global response to climate change is failing to keep pace with the worsening crisis. During his address on Wednesday, Guterres declared that the world is currently on a "path to mutually assured destruction" due to rising emissions, record-breaking temperatures, and increasingly frequent climate-driven disasters.
Guterres explicitly accused the fossil fuel lobby of stalling critical efforts to preserve the environment. "The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us," the UN chief told delegates. He urged governments to transition away from oil, gas, and coal, noting that dependency on these energy sources not only harms the climate but also damages global economies by leaving nations vulnerable to price shocks. "Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, but that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do," he said.
The summit, which opened on Monday, is taking place amid a series of extreme weather events in 2026, including heatwaves across Western Europe and a major glacier collapse in Nepal that resulted in over 1,450 deaths. A recent UN report indicated that the world is on course to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit established under the Paris Agreement.
The COP31 host, Turkey, has proposed a voluntary initiative to increase electricity’s share of global energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035 to reduce emissions from transport and industry. However, the proposal faces scrutiny over the absence of specific requirements for clean power generation. Negotiators from nearly 200 countries are currently working to revive efforts to phase out fossil fuels.
Attendance at the summit remains split, with the United States skipping the talks for the second consecutive year. Other major economies, including France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada, have not sent their top leaders. Among those attending are Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Key facts
- The COP31 summit is currently being held in Antalya, Turkey, with proceedings starting on November 9, 2026.
- A glacier collapse in Nepal this year caused floods resulting in more than 1,450 fatalities and thousands of missing persons.
- Turkey's proposal aims to raise the share of electricity in global energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035.
- The United States, the world's largest historical greenhouse gas emitter, has not sent representation to the summit.
- UN data shows that global emissions reached all-time highs in 2025.
Why it matters
The outcome of these negotiations is expected to provide political momentum for the implementation of climate policies. With most of humanity living in countries that import fossil fuels, the summit’s success in establishing a clear transition plan is seen as vital to protecting nations from volatile energy price shocks.
Background
The 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit is a key target established under the 2015 Paris Agreement, intended to mitigate the most severe impacts of global climate change.
Source: Al Jazeera, Economic Times
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