COP31: Leaders Demand Urgent Funding to Protect Vulnerable Nations from Climate Ruin
As world leaders convened in Antalya for COP31, UN Chief, António Guterres, joined host co-leaders from Australia and Ethiopia in calling for immediate action and multi-billion-dollar climate funding to protect vulnerable nations.
“The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us”, Guterres warned, urging developed nations to deliver at least $300 billion annually in climate finance by 2035 to ensure global targets become reality.
Guterres stressed that global emissions must fall by six percent every year, sharply criticizing fossil fuel interests for continuing to profit from activities driving global warming:
“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… Their strategy is simple: Distort the science. Delay the policy. Delay the action. Delay the accountability”.
Pointing out financial disparities, Guterres noted that while the nine largest oil companies pocketed $95 billion in quarterly profits, the global Loss and Damage Fund has received just $600 million – an amount those firms make in about 14 hours.
Acknowledging that exceeding the 1.5°C Paris Agreement limit is now scientifically inevitable, he insisted leaders must not lose resolve:
“Science is not telling us to surrender. It’s telling us to fight harder. We have the power to make sure the overshoot is a temporary breach, not a permanent sentence”.
Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, highlighted the threat to low-lying Pacific islands, He urged support for ocean adaptation while noting Australia’s shift to 50% renewable power.
Framing climate action as economic policy, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, highlighted Ethiopia’s hydropower reliance, combustion engine import ban, and 56-billion-seedling Green Legacy Initiative ahead of COP32. He demanded clear terms from international financiers.
