UN Chief Urges World Leaders to Tackle Fossil Fuels at COP31
Guterres called on governments to tax oil and gas windfall profits and accelerate the shift to renewable energy as emissions hit record highs, officials said.
- On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, urging world leaders to "end the fossil fuel addiction" and tax oil companies' windfall profits.
- Several prominent figures are absent from the summit, with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham the only G7 leader scheduled to address it; French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are skipping.
- "Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs," Guterres said, noting the energy industry possesses a powerful lobby that blocks necessary climate action unlike prehistoric creatures.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are scheduled to speak during the high-level segment on Wednesday and Thursday.
- Expectations for the conference remain low as nations grapple with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions fueled by the United States' conflict with Iran and Russia's war in Ukraine.
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135 Articles
António Guterres opened the COP31 leaders' summit with an appeal to speed up the energy transition and criticism of the influence of the oil lobby. But the conference, which brings together almost 93,000 participants in Antalia, started with the absence of several world leaders and the lack of political ambition. Environmentalists demand more funding from rich countries to help the most vulnerable to face climate change.
UN Secretary General Multiplies Presence at Conference with Low Presence of Leading Leaders
The UN Secretary General: "We are fighting for our lives and for the future of our children"
UN Secretary General António Guterres asked. at COP31, in Turkey, the disappearance of fossil fuels like dinosaurs and denounces the lobbyists who defend them, in a session of the summit of climate change dedicated to heads of state and government, many of whom are missing at the call, reports AFP.
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