At COP31, the UN chief urged officials gathered to talk about climate, to eliminate fossil fuels and to move beyond their differences to cooperate on the best ways to fight global warming, in a room lacking many heads of state. “The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is bigger than us,” Guterres said before tackling the main cause of climate change.
“Like the dinosaurs, fossil fuels must disappear,” he said. But “this will not happen alone”, in particular because of their lobby, whose “strategy is simple: twist the science, delay decisions, delay action, delay accountability”, added the Secretary General of the United Nations. “And those who profit from fossil fuels must help pay for the damage they cause,” also noted António Guterres.
“In the last quarter alone, the nine largest oil companies reaped 95 billion $ (78.8 billion €, editor’s note) in profits (…). It is time for governments to tax these profits and use these resources to help vulnerable countries recover.” Heads of state and government are meeting Wednesday and Thursday for the annual United Nations climate conference at the end of a year where climate change has once again hit the planet hard, between deadly floods in Nepal and heat waves in Europe.
The noted absence of certain leaders
COP31 brings together representatives from nearly 200 states. Just elected for a new term at the head of Brazil, Brazilian President Lula must speak, just like British Prime Minister Andy Burnham – sole representative of the G7 countries – or Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, around Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish head of state.
But it is especially those who are absent who are generating the most comments from observers and NGOs, ahead of this essential climate conference event. “It’s a shame that some of the main European leaders are not present,” commented Cosima Cassel, diplomacy expert for the E3G think tank, given the notable absence of the main leaders of Germany, France and Italy.
Also absent: President Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from the 2015 Paris agreement and has not sent a delegation since his re-election. China will be represented by Vice President Han Zheng. These two countries are the two largest global economies and the largest emitters of planet-warming gases.
