UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened a critical gathering of world leaders in Brazil with a blistering assessment of the global response to climate change. He delivered harsh words for major world powers, accusing them of being “captive to the fossil fuel interests” rather than protecting the public.
Speaking as talks began in the Amazonian city of Belem, Guterres warned that allowing global warming to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement would be a “moral failure and deadly negligence.” His remarks set an urgent and confrontational tone for the summit.
The UN chief warned that “even a temporary overshoot” of the 1.5-degree limit will have “dramatic consequences.” He painted a bleak picture, stating that “every fraction of a degree higher means more hunger, displacement and loss,” urging immediate and drastic action.
His warning came as Brazil’s President Lula da Silva sought to rally support for a new global fund to protect rainforests. The “Tropical Forests Forever Facility” is designed to pay 74 developing countries to preserve their forests, using a novel financing mechanism based on loans from wealthy nations and investors.
Despite Guterres’s call for unity, divisions were apparent. The leaders of the world’s top three polluters—China, the US, and India—were absent from the preliminary meeting. However, Lula’s fund saw initial success, securing $5.5 billion in pledges, with $3 billion from Norway alone, offering a glimmer of hope amid the dire warnings.