UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning at this year's COP31 summit, saying the climate crisis iss advancing faster than governments' efforts to contain it.
”The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us,” Guterres told attendees, urging governments to expedite the transition to cleaner energy.
He also proposed a new Climate Justice Compact aimed at stepping up financial support for vulnerable countries and ensuring a fair transition away from fossil fuels.
World leaders met in Antalya, Türkiye, on Wednesday amid warnings that global efforts to combat climate change are falling short.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were among leaders who addressed the summit, warning that conflicts and geopolitical tensions should not distract governments from their climate commitments.
“Developed countries that have historically consumed the global carbon budget should assume greater responsibility for emissions reductions and financing,” Erdoğan said in a statement.
He also highlighted Türkiye's green transition, saying renewable energy now accounts for more than 60 per cent of Türkiye's total installed electricity-generation capacity.
The gathering also featured leaders from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Australia and Ethiopia, alongside representatives of other participating countries.
Talks focused on accelerating clean energy investment, boosting climate resilience, and ensuring that developing nations receive adequate assistance.
The summit comes as negotiators from nearly 200 countries seek to advance a proposal to expand electricity's role in global energy consumption and revive stalled efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
A recent UN assessment warned that current climate policies remain insufficient to prevent global temperatures from exceeding the Paris Agreement's 1.5-degree-Celsius threshold.
The talks are taking place against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, rising energy costs and increasingly destructive climate-related disasters.
The United States, historically the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, is absent from the negotiations for a second consecutive year.
This is the first time Türkiye is hosting the annual UN climate conference, with Australia chairing negotiations.
The two-day Antalya Leaders' Summit brings together presidents, prime ministers and senior officials to discuss emissions reductions, climate financing, and the transition away from fossil fuels. It is set to continue on Thursday, while broader COP31 talks are scheduled to run through Nov. 20.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning at this year's COP31 summit, saying ...
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has allocated $10 million to reinforce the Afghan banks of the Amu Darya River, where erosion threat...
NASA is inviting people to send their names to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, aboard its Dragonfly spacecraft. Set to arrive in late 2034, the...
Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for their first formal talks in nine months. They did so with no agreement on what a ceasefire would be tied to or who gets to keep the land currently under Russian control.
At least 17 people have been reported killed in an explosion at a steel plant in western Türkiye, after a crane collapsed during maintenance work. The disaster has prompted a criminal investigation into what went wrong at the industrial facility.
Russia and Ukraine are set to return to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for a fourth round of U.S.-brokered peace talks, with European participation, security guarantees and territorial disputes expected to shape the negotiations.
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said Washington believes the Russian President is prepared to reach a peace agreement under the right conditions, as U.S., Russian and Ukrainian delegations began trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 10 November.
Armenia could lose its voting rights within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on 11 November after failing to pay membership fees for more than two years, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
Iran has unveiled a new underground missile and drone base, warning that it will respond forcefully to any attack, as tensions persist with the U.S. and oil tankers continue to be struck by naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Hundreds of schools in Italy have been evacuated following emailed bomb threats, as similar messages spread to Scotland and Ireland. Police say the threats are not credible.
Bangladesh has rejected ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's application for a new passport, casting doubt on her planned return from exile in India this December, more than two years after a student-led uprising toppled her government.
Russia has denied any involvement with a senior U.S. soldier who was arrested in Britain on suspicion of assisting Russian intelligence. His arrest came a day after the United States moved aircraft out of a British air base over an apparent threat from Iran.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says it has arrested two people accused of working for Polish intelligence and gathering information on military facilities in the western Kaliningrad region.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment