‘I will not stop telling the truth’: António Guterres issues parting climate warning

Detailed summary

Many heads of state missing from Cop31 climate summit as outgoing UN chief delivered his final opening address ...

The scene was there for António Guterres to steal but the United Nations secretary general was almost upstaged. Guterres, attending his last global climate summit before retiring next month, is normally a headline in human form.

His impassioned speeches, arresting imagery and shock warnings rarely leave an audience unmoved.

After a decade of attending Cops, issuing stirring rallying calls as negotiations begin and swooping in for late night pep talks when they invariably flag, the 77-year-old Portuguese diplomat will be a notable absence.

Or will he? In a promise that sounded part reassurance, part threat, he told the presidents and prime ministers attending the two-day leaders gathering at Cop31 in Antalya, Turkey, that he would be watching them.

“You can count on this. I will not stop telling the truth and I will not stop fighting for it,” he said. “I will be standing side by side with you as an advocate and ally. I will be with you every step of the way.”

There was, for the most part, hearty clapping although for every head of state who applauded his savage criticism of the fossil fuel industry, there was another thinking: that’s my company or crown prince you’re talking about there.

The Guterres speech over, it was time for assorted other dignitaries to take the podium in advance of the traditional delivery of “national statements” – three-minute speeches in which leaders get to tell their counterparts their thoughts on climate change.

President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, began his 25-minute monologue with well-worn cliches. We have only one sky, only one earth, etc, etc.

With rather black comedy, he invoked the spirit of the ancient Turks in guiding his country’s modern day environment and climate policy.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Irish Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.