‘Pay up or pay the price’, Guterres warns at climate summit

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “On climate finance, the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price,” emphasized the UN chief telling world leaders that “you and your governments must be guided by a clear truth: Climate finance is not charity, it’s an investment; climate action is not optional, it’s imperative.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday that leaders gathered in Baku for the COP29 Climate Action Summit must take immediate steps to cut emissions, safeguard people from climate chaos, and “tear down the walls to climate finance” in response to the “masterclass in climate destruction” that the world has witnessed in 2024.

In his remarks to the leaders’ summit, UN climate chief Simon Stiell echoed many of the same themes, warning that the climate crisis is fast becoming an economy-killer.

“Climate impacts are carving up to 5 per cent off GDP in many countries,” underscoring that the climate crisis is a cost-of-living crisis because climate-driven disasters are driving up costs for households and businesses.

 “The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. And time is not on our side,” he warned.

In his opening remarks to the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, the ministerial-level segment of COP29, which officially opened on Tuesday in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku, Mr. Guterres pointed to the proof, noting that 2024 is almost certain to be the hottest year ever recorded.