At this year’s Cop29 summit in Azerbaijan, UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a grim assessment of the ongoing climate crisis.
He referred to 2024 as “a masterclass in human destruction,” highlighting the global disasters intensified by climate change.
From communities devastated by floods to extreme heat causing fatalities, Guterres emphasized that these events were not natural occurrences but were being supercharged by human activity.
The summit, which brought together world leaders and top officials from nearly 200 countries, underscored the urgency of addressing the climate crisis with immediate action.
A central topic at the summit is the financial support needed to tackle climate change.
Developing nations are calling for a commitment of $1 trillion annually by 2035 to reduce emissions and cope with the worsening effects of climate breakdown.
The UK has made significant progress in this area, with Keir Starmer announcing ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81% by 2035, compared to 1990 levels.
UN officials warn that climate change is becoming a major economic threat globally.While campaigners have praised the UK’s commitment, they argue that further investment is essential, particularly to help workers transition from the fossil fuel sector to renewable energy.
Despite these efforts, the summit was overshadowed by the re-election of climate-denying Donald Trump in the United States, highlighting the growing divide in global political leadership.
Leaders like UK’s Starmer and Barbados’s Mia Mottley have stressed the need for concerted action, warning that without a rapid reduction in emissions, the global economy faces serious threats.
The UN’s Simon Stiell argued that climate change is no longer just an environmental issue, but an economic one, driving up costs and threatening political stability worldwide.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev defended his country’s reliance on oil and gas, calling it “a gift from God” while acknowledging the need for a green transition.
This tension between continuing fossil fuel extraction and addressing the climate crisis remains a key challenge as the world seeks solutions to avoid further catastrophic impacts.