United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on world leaders to end dependence on fossil fuels, accusing oil and gas interests of obstructing global efforts to tackle climate change.
Speaking on Wednesday at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, Guterres warned that the climate crisis was advancing faster than international efforts to address it. He urged governments to take stronger action against fossil fuel companies and accelerate the transition to cleaner energy sources.
“Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, but that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do,” Guterres said, drawing applause from delegates.
He accused the oil and gas industry of deliberately undermining climate action through misinformation, policy delays and resistance to accountability.
“Their strategy is simple: Distort the science. Delay the policy. Delay the action. Delay the accountability. It’s time to kick the habit – and end the fossil fuel addiction,” he said.
Guterres also called on governments to tax the windfall profits of oil companies, arguing that fossil fuel businesses continue to benefit financially while contributing to environmental destruction.
The two-week COP31 conference began earlier this week amid growing pressure on governments to respond to increasingly severe climate events, including heatwaves and wildfires across Europe and deadly flooding in Nepal.
However, expectations for major breakthroughs remain modest, with geopolitical tensions, the war involving the United States and Iran, and Russia’s ongoing conflict in Ukraine complicating negotiations.
Since countries agreed in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels, efforts to turn that commitment into concrete action have faced significant challenges at successive climate conferences.
Researchers reported on Tuesday that global fossil fuel emissions are projected to decline slightly in 2026, partly due to the rapid expansion of renewable energy and an oil price shock linked to the Iran war.
Guterres’ Final Climate Summit
The Antalya meeting is Guterres’ final COP summit as UN secretary-general, with his tenure scheduled to end in December. Since taking office in 2017, he has made climate action one of the central priorities of his leadership.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are among the leaders scheduled to address the summit during its high-level segment on Wednesday and Thursday.
However, several prominent world leaders are absent. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is the only leader from a G7 country scheduled to address the conference.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to attend, while French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are among those skipping the event. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are also absent from the latest attendance list.
Climate diplomacy expert Cosima Cassel of the think-tank E3G told AFP that the absence of some major European leaders was disappointing, stressing the importance of strong European participation.
“It is a shame that some of the bigger European leaders aren’t coming. We need Europe to be showing up strongly at this COP,” she said.
However, the European Union’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, described the absences as not entirely unusual, noting that leaders may have practical reasons for missing international summits. He also acknowledged that expectations for COP31 were not particularly high.
Electrification Takes Centre Stage
As host, Turkey is promoting a voluntary initiative aimed at accelerating the electrification of transport, buildings and industry. The proposal seeks to increase electricity’s share of global energy consumption to 35 per cent by 2035.
The European Union has emphasised that the shift towards electrification must be powered by clean energy, a position that could generate debate over the continued role of coal, oil and natural gas in Turkey’s proposal.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, said he intended to use the summit to raise concerns about environmental damage caused by military conflicts.
According to Iranian state television, Pezeshkian said Tehran would address what it described as environmental destruction resulting from actions by the United States and Israel.
US and China Leaders Stay Away
US President Donald Trump is not attending COP31. His administration has withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate agreement and has not sent officials to climate negotiations since his re-election in 2024.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who rarely attends COP meetings in person, is being represented by Vice President Han Zheng.
The absence of the two leaders is significant, as the United States and China are the world’s largest economies and leading emitters of greenhouse gases.
Despite the absence of several influential figures, climate campaigners have welcomed the participation of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose administration has made reducing deforestation a major environmental priority.
Cassel summed up the significance of Brazil’s presence by saying: “But we have Lula.”
Lula’s participation has drawn particular attention following his reported victory over right-wing rival Flávio Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential election last month, a development welcomed by climate campaigners concerned about the future of environmental protection in the Amazon.
