At a Glance

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres will urge world leaders to act at the COP31 climate talks in Turkey.

• It is his last climate conference as UN chief, as his term ends this year.

• He says political leadership, not the world, has failed on climate.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling the COP31 climate talks "a moment of truth" in what will be his final climate address before his second and last term expires at the end of the year.

Key Statements and Focus Area

• Guterres on Urgency: "This is a moment of truths. We can no longer wait; we can no longer have endless discussions in which everybody tries to push the responsibility to someone else. Everybody must do more, everybody must do more now." — António Guterres, UN Secretary-General.

• Guterres on Political Failure: "It's not the world that's failed, it's the political leadership that's failed." — António Guterres.

• Focus Area: Guterres' final climate push and his reflections on a decade of urging countries to cut emissions.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Guterres said the conference, scheduled for November 9 to 20, comes amid worsening heat waves, storms, floods and droughts, along with El Niño.

He called last year's consultation with scientists one of the most difficult days of his life, when they told him he could no longer say the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement was still alive.

The UN is now trying to limit how far beyond that threshold the world goes. He said protecting the planet needs long-term strategy, and pointed to his time as Portugal's prime minister in the late 1990s as proof that sustained green investment is possible.

Guterres warned that wars in Ukraine and Iran, along with the electricity, water and emissions demands of artificial intelligence, are compounding the crisis, and said war-driven energy shocks show that reliance on fossil fuels is a security problem.

A worldwide boom in cheaper wind and solar power, he said, gives him hope. He also called for windfall profits of fossil fuel companies to be taxed to help countries hit hardest by climate impacts.

He recalled his 2023 visit to Nepal, where he warned of glacier-fed lakes bursting, and said the disasters came sooner than he expected. Floods in August killed more than 1,400 people, with another 5,600 missing.

Al Gore praised him as "eloquent, forceful and right on target," while Laurence Tubiana said he pushed further than any previous secretary-general. Guterres said his office has "not much money" but has a voice, and his advice to his successor is to "tell the truth."

The Security Council is still deciding who will succeed him.

FYI

The 2015 Paris Agreement set a goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Guterres has been among the most visible advocates for stronger climate action over his ten-year tenure, and in 2023 said "the era of global boiling has arrived."

COP31 is being held in Antalya, Turkey.

Dive Deeper: Handpicked Stories for You

Follow Channel8 for continuous updates:

COP31 Opens in Turkey as World Overshoots 1.5°C Climate Goal