Guterres, at final COP press conference, warns 1.5C overshoot is inevitable and calls for emissions cuts of about 6 percent a year
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held his final climate press conference as Secretary-General at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, on November 13. He said this was his final COP as Secretary-General, and that for nearly ten years he had tried to speak the truth about climate change.
Guterres said an overshoot of 1.5 degrees Celsius is now inevitable, and that the responsibility is to keep it as small as possible, for as short a time as possible, and to bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees as quickly as possible, which requires immediate and drastic emissions cuts of about 6 percent every year over the next few years. He warned that on the current trajectory, temperatures are heading above 2.5 degrees by the end of the century. He said it is not possible to build peace on a burning planet, or to eradicate poverty when climate disasters keep throwing people back into it.
He also said the future of the planet cannot be negotiated on the terms of those profiting from its destruction.
Source: UN Secretary-General
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：联合国秘书长古特雷斯在气候大会期间发言（资料画面，摄于 COP30）。来源：Xuthoria，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0。 / Photo: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaking during a climate conference (file photo, taken at COP30). Source: Xuthoria, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
