UN secretary-general marks last climate summit with call to make polluters pay

António Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general

António Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, has renewed his call to hold fossil fuel companies accountable by making them pay for the harm their actions have done to poorer countries through climate change, marking a defining moment of his last UN climate summit in office.

Mr Guterres gave his final press conference at the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey, as the head of the organisation.

The former prime minister of Portugal has led the UN since January 2017 and exits the role on 31 December, when his second five-year term ends.

Mr Guterres addressed representatives of civil society groups, who gathered Friday to bid him farewell and recognised him with an award for using the UN’s platform to confront the world’s most powerful industries.

“You have given a voice to this injustice like no other leader,” Louise Hutchins, convener of the Make Polluters Pay International Coalition, said.

The session was filled with chants of “make polluters pay”, and speakers asked him to return to a future climate summit wearing an NGO badge.

Mr Guterres told the gathering that the UN’s loss and damage fund now exists but was “funded at a ridiculous level”.

“Those who pollute the least are those who are paying the highest price,” he said.

He urged civil society to apply the counter-pressure needed to help governments understand that things must change.

The UN chief’s final address to a COP leaders’ summit on Wednesday urged governments to levy a tax on oil companies’ windfall profits and use the money to help vulnerable countries recover.

He also proposed a climate justice compact to help countries shift away from fossil fuels, noting that the climate crisis is outrunning the world.

Mr Guterres told the leaders he will no longer be secretary-general from next year, but said, “I will not stop telling the truth.”

At Friday’s press conference, he demanded an immediate and drastic cut in emissions by big emitters.

“You cannot build peace on a burning planet,” he said.

Mr Guterres’ successor has not been announced. The new secretary-general will take office on 1 January 2027 and will lead the UN into the next climate summit (COP32) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, later that year.