With just one month left before the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres raises the alarm in regard to climate warnings. While overshooting the target set in the Paris climate agreement is inevitable and will have devastating consequences, urgent action is needed to avoid worse.
From 10 to 21 November 2025, world leaders, scientists, and other climate stakeholders will gather at the COP30 (the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Brazil. In the lead-up to the event, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian and Amazon-based news organisation Sumaúma, in which one clear message stands out: containing global warming below 1.5°C will be impossible over the coming years.
“Let’s recognise our failure. The truth is that we have failed to avoid overshooting above 1.5 °C in the next few years. And that going above 1.5°C has devastating consequences. Some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs”, Guterres said during the interview.
Climate action plans
At the moment, just 62 out of 197 of the world’s nations are reported to have sent in their climate action plan as determined under the Paris agreement. While Europe has yet to deliver theirs, the Trump administration has recently even abandoned the plan previously put out by the US. According to Guterres, the climate action plans submitted up until now would be able to reach a reduction of emissions of 10%, while 60% is needed to stay under the 1.5°C threshold. Although the last ten years have been the hottest yet in recorded history, too many nations are failing to take action.
The target set in the Paris climate agreement will thus be surpassed over the coming years, yet if swift action is taken, for example during the COP30 in Brazil, the overshoot might still be contained to a few years. Yet to stay under the 1.5°C overshoot by the end of the century, a change of course is indispensable.
“The 1.5°C still remains – according to all the scientists I met – possible before the end of the century”, Guterres said, stating, however, that much greater ambition would be required.
In order to be able to maintain the goal laid out in the Paris climate agreement, the Secretary-General urged governments to rebalance representation at the United Nations Climate Change Conferences. Civil society groups, if possible from Indigenous communities, could have a much bigger impact, according to Guterres, than people paid to be present by corporations, who are focused on making profits.
Today, I spoke with leading climate experts.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 21, 2025
Their message was clear:
Limiting warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century is still possible, but urgent #ClimateAction is needed.
With #COP30 approaching, let’s build the momentum we need for a safer future. pic.twitter.com/P27eBw0kzG
Moreover, he insisted on the fact that the era of fossil fuels was coming to an end. Not only out of interest for the climate but also due to a matter of economic self-interest.
“Renewables are the cheapest, fastest and smartest source of new power. They represent the only credible path to end the relentless destruction of our climate”, said Guterres.
The statement seems to be an answer to President Trump’s speech at the United Nations in New York, during which he called carbon footprint a “hoax made up by people with evil intentions” and stated that by getting rid of “the falsely named renewables”.
