Guterres calls for climate justice compact to support developing countries

Detailed summary

UN chief António Guterres has urged world leaders at COP31 to back a new Climate Justice Compact, pressing rich nations and oil giants to finance the global…

United Nations secretary-general António Guterres has called for a new Climate Justice Compact to address the deep inequalities in climate finance, warning that developing countries cannot be expected to shift away from fossil fuels and protect their populations from climate change without substantially greater financial support.

Speaking at the leaders’ summit at the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye on Wednesday, Guterres said emerging and developing economies outside China were home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s population but received less than a fifth of global clean energy investment.

Most also paid two to three times more to borrow, making it harder for them to finance the transition to renewable energy.

“If they cannot access affordable clean energy, fossil fuels will fill the gap — locking in emissions for decades,” he said.

Guterres said the compact should rest on four pillars: accelerating a just transition away from fossil fuels, protecting people from climate impacts, making climate finance adequate and choosing international cooperation over geopolitical fragmentation.

The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities must apply and all countries must do their part, he said.

Guterres called on developed countries to cut emissions faster and deliver the finance and technology they had promised, while emerging economies accelerated their shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Developing countries needed substantial support to adapt to rising temperatures and increasingly severe climate impacts.

“Climate justice is the defining challenge of the next decade,” he said. “We cannot demand that countries transform their economies while denying them the means to do so.”

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