No way in heck, no fossil fuel interest or government can stop the world from working toward a clean energy future, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday after holding a closed-door virtual meeting with 17 heads of government and state.
Participants in the meeting included Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of China Xi Jinping and other national leaders. United States President Donald Trump was not included.
“We also had leaders currently chairing important regional partnerships — the African Union, ASEAN, and the Alliance of Small Island States and CARICOM, along with many others. It was among the most diverse meetings of heads of state focused exclusively on climate in some time,” Guterres said in a statement following the virtual summit. “Yet I heard a unifying message. Yes, our world faces massive headwinds and a multitude of crises. But we cannot allow climate commitments to be blown off course. We must keep building momentum for action at COP30 in Brazil — and today was an important part of that effort. We don’t have a moment to lose.”
The goal of the meeting, attended by both climate-vulnerable countries and major economies, was to speed up global climate ambition before the November COP30 UN Climate Conference in Belém, UN News reported. Lula and Guterres intended the meeting to help build momentum for stronger global measures under the Paris Agreement, as well as climate action plans to be announced by countries in 2025.
The two-hour session included leaders from the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, small island developing states and the European Union.
“Renewables are the economic opportunity of the century. Dissenters and fossil fuel interests may try to stand in the way. But as we heard today, the world is moving forward. Full-speed ahead. No group or government can stop the clean energy revolution,” Guterres said following the meeting.
