António Guterres at COP31: peace cannot be built on a planet that is burning
At COP31 in Antalya Guterres linked climate disasters to poverty and justice, calling for science-based action.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned at the closing of the UN Climate Change Conference COP31 in Antalya that peace cannot be built on a planet that is burning.
Guterres linked climate breakdown to poverty and injustice, saying that repeated disasters erase development gains and that destroying the natural systems that underpin the future undermines any promise made to young people.
Science and truth at the centre of his message
“You cannot eradicate poverty if climate disasters keep pushing people back into poverty. You cannot promise young people a better future if you are destroying the natural systems on which that future depends. And you cannot seriously talk about justice if those who have contributed least to this crisis are the first and hardest hit by its consequences,” Guterres said in his closing speech at the UN Climate Change Conference COP31 in Antalya.
He stressed that throughout his public statements on climate he has sought to report the facts, even when the message was uncomfortable or unwelcome.
“I have tried to tell the truth about climate change. Sometimes that truth has been uncomfortable, and sometimes it has been unwelcome. My duty has never been to make the facts more palatable, but to speak the truth based on science, especially when it is hard to face,” Guterres added.
His remarks framed the conference’s political challenge: bridging scientific urgency with the practical and moral demands of development, justice and security.
Photo: press material from the event
