Guterres urges credible fossil-fuel exit plans at New York climate summit

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged every country to develop a credible roadmap for moving away from fossil fuels, with clear timelines, at a high-level climate action and just transition event in New York on 23 September 2026.

“We are the first generation with the tools to end the fossil fuel age – and the last who can avert climate catastrophe,” Guterres said. He called on leaders to deliver and then overdeliver, warning that even full implementation of current national climate plans would still point to warming beyond 2°C.

He said the gap must be closed this decade by tripling renewable energy, doubling efficiency, electrifying economies, cutting methane, halting deforestation and accelerating the move away from fossil fuels. The G20, responsible for around 80 per cent of global emissions, must lead, he said.

The transition, Guterres added, must be fair. It should create jobs, strengthen social protection and allow developing countries to shape the process and share its benefits. Developed countries should lead efforts to mobilise at least $300 billion a year for developing countries, while overall climate finance should be scaled to $1.3 trillion a year by 2035.

A common platform known as the Global Grids Accelerator was launched at the event because renewable energy is expanding faster than the electricity grids needed to carry it. The next phase of the Task Force on Critical Energy Transition Minerals will begin in Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its aim is to help mineral wealth support local industrialisation and keep value in those countries.

Guterres also pointed to Early Warnings for All, launched in 2022. The initiative has mobilised about $2 billion, and more than 160 countries receive direct support. Its aim is protection for everyone by the end of 2027. He also called for adaptation finance to be tripled.

The secretary-general thanked Türkiye and Australia for their preparations for COP31, while stressing that governments must turn commitments into faster, fairer action.