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Transcript: Greta Thunberg's Speech At The U.N. Climate Action Summit

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit in New York City on Monday. Here's the full transcript of Thunberg's speech, beginning with her response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.

"My message is that we'll be watching you.

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

'This Is All Wrong,' Greta Thunberg Tells World Leaders At U.N. Climate Session

"For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

"You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

"The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

"Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

"So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.

"To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

"How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.

"There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

"We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

"Thank you."

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Read climate activist Greta Thunberg’s speech to the UN

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg chastised world leaders Monday for failing younger generations by not taking sufficient steps to stop climate change.

“You have stolen my childhood and my dreams with your empty words,” Thunberg said at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York.

Thunberg traveled to the U.S. by sailboat last month so she could appear at the summit. She and other youth activists led international climate strikes on Friday in an attempt to garner awareness ahead of the UN’s meeting of political and business leaders.

Read Greta Thunberg’s speech below:

This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight? You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency, but no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil and that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in ten years only gives us a 50 percent chance of staying below 1.5 degrees and the risk of setting up irreversible chain reactions beyond human control. Fifty percent may be acceptable to you, but those numbers do not include tipping points most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution, or the aspects of equity and climate justice.

They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist. So a 50 percent risk is simply not acceptable to us. We who have to live with the consequences. To have a 67 percent chance of staying below the 1.5 degree of temperature rise, the best odds given by the IPCC, the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on January 1, 2018.

Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons. How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just business as usual and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 that entire budget will be gone is less than 8 and a half years. There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us, but young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this, right here, right now, is where we draw the line. The world is waking up, and change is coming whether you like it or not.

Gretchen Frazee is a Senior Coordinating Broadcast Producer for the PBS NewsHour.

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UN secretary-general labels humanity as ‘the meteor’ in fiery climate speech

‘we are not only in danger. we are the danger. but we are also the solution.’.

By Justine Calma , a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home , a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.

Share this story

The climate as we know it may be in the rear-view mirror, and there is precious little time to change course before careening past a dangerous threshold for global warming.

That was the sentiment expressed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres during fiery remarks, which followed new data released today by the World Meteorological Organization and the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service .

“Like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsize impact. In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor,” Guterres said in the speech he delivered from American Museum of Natural History in New York City — where dinosaur skeletons tower above visitors in the lobby — on World Environment Day today. “We are not only in danger. We are the danger. But we are also the solution,” he said.

Last month was officially the hottest May in history, marking 12 straight months of the hottest on record

Last month was officially the hottest May in history, marking 12 straight months of the hottest on record. We’ve seen that play out with record-smashing heatwaves around the world, and there’s not much relief in sight.

Policymakers and UN climate scientists are focused on a key milestone: the point at which global average temperatures are consistently 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than they were before the Industrial Revolution. The most ambitious target of the landmark Paris accord is to keep the world from breaching that threshold. Otherwise, the effects of climate change grow markedly worse — straining and potentially surpassing the world’s ability to adapt.

2023 was already the hottest year on record , but likely not for much longer. There’s now an 80 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the preindustrial average, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). When the Paris agreement was struck in 2015, there was a near 0 percent chance of that happening.

While one year of extreme heat certainly takes its toll, climate scientists are most worried about those temperatures becoming the new norm. The WMO says there’s now a roughly 50 percent chance that average temperatures over the next five years will also be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the preindustrial era. Last year, there was only a 32 percent chance of that happening.

The odds are rising against us because greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels continue to climb . Scientists have calculated how much planet-heating carbon dioxide can still be released before that pollution is enough to push the world beyond a permanent 1.5 degrees of warming. That carbon budget is now down to 200 billion metric tons of pollution, Guterres said today. That’s actually a small number considering global carbon dioxide emissions reach about 40 billion metric tons a year.

At those numbers, we have about five years left of business as usual before that Paris target is out of reach. And while there’s much political wrangling about what it would take to avoid 1.5 degrees of warming, Guterres reminded people that there are real-world consequences.

“It is not a goal. It is a physical limit,” he said. “Every fraction of a degree of global heating counts. The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities.”

Compared to 1.5 degrees, 40,000 more people could see their homes inundated at 2 degrees of warming. The proportion of the global population exposed to extreme heatwaves at least once every five years jumps from 14 to 37 percent with just half a degree of warming at the global level.

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With a shrinking carbon budget, global CO2 emissions would now have to fall by 9 percent every year this decade to stop global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius. That is a greater plunge in pollution than the world experienced in 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic curbed economic activity and slashed CO2 emissions by more than 5 percent . Emissions would need to fall to net zero by 2050.

Guterres, at least, is still holding out hope that countries can change course with a sharp turn toward renewable energy. After all, solar and onshore wind farms are already the cheapest source of electricity for most of the world.

Clean energy investments have nearly doubled over the past decade, reaching a record high last year. That progress needs to accelerate, he urged. Renewables make up 30 percent of the world’s electricity mix. But there are big inequities in how that’s rolling out, with only 15 percent of clean energy investments in emerging and developing economies outside of China. Less than 1 percent of new renewable energy capacity was installed in Africa last year.

There’s also a lack of funding to adapt to the effects of climate change, building homes and cities that are more resilient to rising seas and temperatures. There’s only about five cents of funding available for every dollar needed to adapt to extreme weather, Guterres warned.

“If money makes the world go round, today’s unequal financial flows are sending us spinning toward disaster,” he said. “We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unlivable lands.”

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Four Powerful Climate Change Speeches to Inspire You

To support the running costs of Moral Fibres, this post may contain affiliate links. This means Moral Fibres may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to readers, on items purchased through these links.

Looking to be inspired to take action on climate change? Watch these four powerful climate change speeches, and get ready to change the world.

Climate change is the most pressing concern facing us and our planet. As such, we need powerful action, and fast, from both global leaders and global corporations, right down to individuals.

I’ve got over 70 climate change and sustainability quotes to motivate people and inspire climate action. But if it is more than quotes you need then watch these four impassioned climate change speeches. These speeches are particularly good if you are looking for even more inspiration to inspire others to take climate action.

The Sustainability Speeches To Motivate You

Here are the speeches to know – I’ve included a video of each speech plus a transcript to make it easy to get all the information you need. Use the quick links to jump to a specific speech or keep scrolling to see all the speeches.

Greta Thunberg’s Climate Change Speech at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit

Leonardo dicaprio’s climate change speech at the 2014 un climate summit, yeb sano’s climate change speech at the united nations climate summit in warsaw, greta thunberg’s speech at houses of parliament.

In September 2019 climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the U.N.’s Climate Action Summit in New York City with this inspiring climate change speech:

Here’s the full transcript of Greta Thunberg’s climate change speech. It begins with Greta’s response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.

My message is that we’ll be watching you.

This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5°C, and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

Fifty per cent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO 2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.

To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5°C global temperature rise – the best odds given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world had 420 gigatons of CO 2 left to emit back on January 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO 2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 and a half years.

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

Leonardo DiCaprio gave an impassioned climate change speech at the 2014 UN Climate Summit. Watch it now:

Here’s a transcript of Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate change speech in case you’re looking to quote any part of it.

Thank you, Mr Secretary General, your excellencies, ladies and gentleman, and distinguished guests. I’m honoured to be here today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen. One of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis.

As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems.

I believe humankind has looked at climate change in that same way. As if it were fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that climate change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away.

But I think we know better than that. Every week, we’re seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence that accelerated climate change is here now .  We know that droughts are intensifying.  Our oceans are warming and acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from beneath the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, increased temperatures, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections.

None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The scientific community knows it. Industry and governments know it. Even the United States military knows it. The chief of the US Navy’s Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, recently said that climate change is our single greatest security threat.

My friends, this body – perhaps more than any other gathering in human history – now faces that difficult task. You can make history or be vilified by it.

To be clear, this is not about just telling people to change their light bulbs or to buy a hybrid car. This disaster has grown BEYOND the choices that individuals make. This is now about our industries, and governments around the world taking decisive, large-scale action.

I am not a scientist, but I don’t need to be. Because the world’s scientific community has spoken, and they have given us our prognosis. If we do not act together, we will surely perish.

Now is our moment for action.

We need to put a price tag on carbon emissions and eliminate government subsidies for coal, gas, and oil companies. We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy. They don’t deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny. For the economy itself will die if our ecosystems collapse.

The good news is that renewable energy is not only achievable but good economic policy. New research shows that by 2050 clean, renewable energy could supply 100% of the world’s energy needs using existing technologies, and it would create millions of jobs.

This is not a partisan debate; it is a human one. Clean air and water, and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics. It is our moral obligation – if, admittedly, a daunting one.

We only get one planet. Humankind must become accountable on a massive scale for the wanton destruction of our collective home. Protecting our future on this planet depends on the conscious evolution of our species.

This is the most urgent of times, and the most urgent of messages.

Honoured delegates, leaders of the world, I pretend for a living. But you do not. The people made their voices heard on Sunday around the world and the momentum will not stop. And now it’s YOUR turn, the time to answer the greatest challenge of our existence on this planet is now.

I beg you to face it with courage. And honesty. Thank you.

The Philippines’ lead negotiator  Yeb Sano  addressed the opening session of the UN climate summit in Warsaw in November 2013. In this emotional and powerful climate change speech he called for urgent action to prevent a repeat of the devastating storm that hit parts of the Philippines:

Transcript of Yeb’s Climate Change Speech

Here’s a transcript of Yeb’s climate change speech:

Mr President, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the resilient people of the Republic of the Philippines.

At the onset, allow me to fully associate my delegation with the statement made by the distinguished Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji, on behalf of G77 and China as well as the statement made by Nicaragua on behalf of the Like-Minded Developing Countries.

First and foremost, the people of the Philippines, and our delegation here for the United Nations Climate Change Convention’s 19 th  Conference of the Parties here in Warsaw, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your expression of sympathy to my country in the face of this national difficulty.

In the midst of this tragedy, the delegation of the Philippines is comforted by the warm hospitality of Poland, with your people offering us warm smiles everywhere we go. Hotel staff and people on the streets, volunteers and personnel within the National Stadium have warmly offered us kind words of sympathy. So, thank you Poland.

The arrangements you have made for this COP is also most excellent and we highly appreciate the tremendous effort you have put into the preparations for this important gathering.

We also thank all of you, friends and colleagues in this hall and from all corners of the world as you stand beside us in this difficult time.

I thank all countries and governments who have extended your solidarity and for offering assistance to the Philippines.

I thank the youth present here and the billions of young people around the world who stand steadfastly behind my delegation and who are watching us shape their future.

I thank civil society, both who are working on the ground as we race against time in the hardest-hit areas, and those who are here in Warsaw prodding us to have a sense of urgency and ambition.

We are deeply moved by this manifestation of human solidarity. This outpouring of support proves to us that as a human race, we can unite; that as a species, we care.

It was barely 11 months ago in Doha when my delegation appealed to the world… to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face… as then we confronted a catastrophic storm that resulted in the costliest disaster in Philippine history.

Less than a year hence, we cannot imagine that a disaster much bigger would come. With an apparent cruel twist of fate, my country is being tested by this hellstorm called Super Typhoon Haiyan, which has been described by experts as the strongest typhoon that has ever made landfall in the course of recorded human history.

It was so strong that if there was a Category 6, it would have fallen squarely in that box. Up to this hour, we remain uncertain as to the full extent of the devastation, as information trickles in an agonisingly slow manner because electricity lines and communication lines have been cut off and may take a while before these are restored.

The initial assessment shows that Haiyan left a wake of massive devastation that is unprecedented, unthinkable, and horrific, affecting 2/3 of the Philippines, with about half a million people now rendered homeless, and with scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of a tsunami, with a vast wasteland of mud and debris and dead bodies.

According to satellite estimates, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also estimated that Haiyan achieved a minimum pressure between around 860 mbar (hPa; 25.34 inHg) and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated Haiyan to have attained one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph) and gusts up to 378 km/h (235 mph) making it the strongest typhoon in modern recorded history.

Despite the massive efforts that my country had exerted in preparing for the onslaught of this monster of a storm, it was just a force too powerful, and even as a nation familiar with storms, Super Typhoon Haiyan was nothing we have ever experienced before, or perhaps nothing that any country has every experienced before.

The picture in the aftermath is ever so slowly coming into clearer focus. The devastation is colossal. And as if this is not enough, another storm is brewing again in the warm waters of the western Pacific. I shudder at the thought of another typhoon hitting the same places where people have not yet even managed to begin standing up.

To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair.

I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian Ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice caps, to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned, to the hills of Central America that confront similar monstrous hurricanes, to the vast savannahs of Africa where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death as food and water becomes scarce.

Not to forget the massive hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of North America. And if that is not enough, you may want to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.

The science has given us a picture that has become much more in focus. The IPCC report on climate change and extreme events underscored the risks associated with changes in the patterns as well as the frequency of extreme weather events.

Science tells us that simply, climate change will mean more intense tropical storms. As the Earth warms up, that would include the oceans. The energy that is stored in the waters off the Philippines will increase the intensity of typhoons and the trend we now see is that more destructive storms will be the new norm.

This will have profound implications on many of our communities, especially who struggle against the twin challenges of the development crisis and the climate change crisis. Typhoons such as Yolanda (Haiyan) and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the international community that we cannot afford to procrastinate on climate action. Warsaw must deliver on enhancing ambition and should muster the political will to address climate change.

In Doha, we asked, “If not us then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?” (borrowed from Philippine student leader Ditto Sarmiento during Martial Law). It may have fell on deaf ears. But here in Warsaw, we may very well ask these same forthright questions. “If not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here in Warsaw, where?”

What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness.

We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw.

It is the 19 th  COP, but we might as well stop counting because my country refuses to accept that a COP30 or a COP40 will be needed to solve climate change.

And because it seems that despite the significant gains we have had since the UNFCCC was born, 20 years hence we continue to fail in fulfilling the ultimate objective of the Convention. 

Now, we find ourselves in a situation where we have to ask ourselves – can we ever attain the objective set out in Article 2 – which is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system? By failing to meet the objective of the Convention, we may have ratified the doom of vulnerable countries.

And if we have failed to meet the objective of the Convention, we have to confront the issue of loss and damage.

Loss and damage from climate change is a reality today across the world. Developed country emissions reduction targets are dangerously low and must be raised immediately. But even if they were in line with the demand of reducing 40-50% below 1990 levels, we would still have locked-in climate change and would still need to address the issue of loss and damage.

We find ourselves at a critical juncture and the situation is such that even the most ambitious emissions reductions by developed countries, who should have been taking the lead in combatting climate change in the past two decades, will not be enough to avert the crisis.

It is now too late, too late to talk about the world being able to rely on Annex I countries to solve the climate crisis. We have entered a new era that demands global solidarity in order to fight climate change and ensure that the pursuit of sustainable human development remains at the fore of the global community’s efforts. This is why means of implementation for developing countries is ever more crucial.

It was the Secretary-general of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 1992, Maurice Strong who said that “History reminds us that what is not possible today, may be inevitable tomorrow.”

We cannot sit and stay helpless staring at this international climate stalemate. It is now time to take action. We need an emergency climate pathway.

I speak for my delegation. But more than that, I speak for the countless people who will no longer be able to speak for themselves after perishing from the storm. I also speak for those who have been orphaned by this tragedy. I also speak for the people now racing against time to save survivors and alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the disaster.

We can take drastic action now to ensure that we prevent a future where super typhoons are a way of life. Because we refuse, as a nation, to accept a future where super typhoons like Haiyan become a fact of life. We refuse to accept that running away from storms, evacuating our families, suffering the devastation and misery, having to count our dead, become a way of life. We simply refuse to.

We must stop calling events like these as natural disasters. It is not natural when people continue to struggle to eradicate poverty and pursue development and get battered by the onslaught of a monster storm now considered as the strongest storm ever to hit land. It is not natural when science already tells us that global warming will induce more intense storms. It is not natural when the human species has already profoundly changed the climate.

Disasters are never natural. They are the intersection of factors other than physical. They are the accumulation of the constant breach of economic, social, and environmental thresholds.

Most of the time disasters are a result of inequity and the poorest people of the world are at greatest risk because of their vulnerability and decades of maldevelopment, which I must assert is connected to the kind of pursuit of economic growth that dominates the world. The same kind of pursuit of so-called economic growth and unsustainable consumption that has altered the climate system.

Now, if you will allow me, to speak on a more personal note.

Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in my family’s hometown and the devastation is staggering. I struggle to find words even for the images that we see from the news coverage. I struggle to find words to describe how I feel about the losses and damages we have suffered from this cataclysm.

Up to this hour, I agonize while waiting for word as to the fate of my very own relatives. What gives me renewed strength and great relief was when my brother succeeded in communicating with us that he has survived the onslaught. In the last two days, he has been gathering bodies of the dead with his own two hands. He is hungry and weary as food supplies find it difficult to arrive in the hardest-hit areas.

We call on this COP to pursue work until the most meaningful outcome is in sight. Until concrete pledges have been made to ensure mobilisation of resources for the Green Climate Fund. Until the promise of the establishment of a loss and damage mechanism has been fulfilled. Until there is assurance on finance for adaptation. Until concrete pathways for reaching the committed 100 billion dollars have been made. Until we see real ambition on stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations. We must put the money where our mouths are.

This process under the UNFCCC has been called many names. It has been called a farce. It has been called an annual carbon-intensive gathering of useless frequent flyers. It has been called many names. But it has also been called “The Project To Save The Planet”. It has been called “Saving Tomorrow Today”. We can fix this. We can stop this madness. Right now. Right here, in the middle of this football field.

I call on you to lead us. And let Poland be forever known as the place we truly cared to stop this madness. Can humanity rise to the occasion? I still believe we can.

Finally, in April 2019, Greta spoke at the Houses of Parliament in the UK. Here she gave this powerful climate change speech to the UK’s political leaders:

Transcript of Greta’s Climate Change Speech

Here is the full transcript of Greta’s climate change speech:

My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on behalf of future generations.

I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re only repeating the message of the united climate science.

Many of you appear concerned that we are wasting valuable lesson time, but I assure you we will go back to school the moment you start listening to science and give us a future. Is that really too much to ask?

In the year 2030, I will be 26 years old. My little sister Beata will be 23. Just like many of your own children or grandchildren. That is a great age, we have been told. When you have all of your life ahead of you. But I am not so sure it will be that great for us.

I was fortunate to be born in a time and place where everyone told us to dream big. I could become whatever I wanted to. I could live wherever I wanted to. People like me had everything we needed and more. Things our grandparents could not even dream of. We had everything we could ever wish for and yet now we may have nothing.

Now we probably don’t even have a future anymore.

Because that future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit and that you only live once.

You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late. And yet we are the lucky ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard.

Is my microphone on? Can you hear me?

Around the year 2030, 10 years 252 days and 10 hours away from now, we will be in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, that will most likely lead to the end of our civilisation as we know it. That is unless, in that time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society have taken place, including a reduction of CO 2 emissions by at least 50%.

And please note that these calculations are depending on inventions that have not yet been invented at scale, inventions that are supposed to clear the atmosphere of astronomical amounts of carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, these calculations do not include unforeseen tipping points and feedback loops like the extremely powerful methane gas escaping from rapidly thawing arctic permafrost.

Nor do these scientific calculations include already locked-in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Nor the aspect of equity – or climate justice – clearly stated throughout the Paris Agreement, which is absolutely necessary to make it work on a global scale.

We must also bear in mind that these are just calculations. Estimations. That means that these “points of no return” may occur a bit sooner or later than 2030. No one can know for sure. We can, however, be certain that they will occur approximately in these timeframes because these calculations are not opinions or wild guesses.

These projections are backed up by scientific facts, concluded by all nations through the IPCC. Nearly every single major national scientific body around the world unreservedly supports the work and findings of the IPCC.

Did you hear what I just said? Is my English OK? Is the microphone on? Because I’m beginning to wonder.

During the last six months, I have travelled around Europe for hundreds of hours in trains, electric cars, and buses, repeating these life-changing words over and over again. But no one seems to be talking about it, and nothing has changed. In fact, the emissions are still rising.

When I have been travelling around to speak in different countries, I am always offered help to write about the specific climate policies in specific countries. But that is not really necessary. Because the basic problem is the same everywhere. And the basic problem is that basically nothing is being done to halt – or even slow – climate and ecological breakdown, despite all the beautiful words and promises.

The UK is, however, very special. Not only for its mind-blowing historical carbon debt but also for its current, very creative, carbon accounting.

Since 1990 the UK has achieved a 37% reduction of its territorial CO 2 emissions, according to the Global Carbon Project. And that does sound very impressive. But these numbers do not include emissions from aviation, shipping, and those associated with imports and exports. If these numbers are included the reduction is around 10% since 1990 – or an average of 0.4% a year, according to Tyndall Manchester. And the main reason for this reduction is not a consequence of climate policies, but rather a 2001 EU directive on air quality that essentially forced the UK to close down its very old and extremely dirty coal power plants and replace them with less dirty gas power stations. And switching from one disastrous energy source to a slightly less disastrous one will of course result in a lowering of emissions.

But perhaps the most dangerous misconception about the climate crisis is that we have to “lower” our emissions. Because that is far from enough.

Our emissions have to stop if we are to stay below 1.5-2 ° C of warming. The “lowering of emissions” is of course necessary but it is only the beginning of a fast process that must lead to a stop within a couple of decades or less. And by “stop” I mean net-zero – and then quickly on to negative figures. That rules out most of today’s politics.

The fact that we are speaking of “lowering” instead of “stopping” emissions is perhaps the greatest force behind the continuing business as usual. The UK’s active current support of new exploitation of fossil fuels – for example, the UK shale gas fracking industry, the expansion of its North Sea oil and gas fields, the expansion of airports as well as the planning permission for a brand new coal mine – is beyond absurd.

This ongoing irresponsible behaviour will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of humankind.

People always tell me and the other millions of school strikers that we should be proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished. But the only thing that we need to look at is the emission curve. And I’m sorry, but it’s still rising. That curve is the only thing we should look at.

Every time we make a decision we should ask ourselves; how will this decision affect that curve? We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth, but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases. We should no longer only ask: “Have we got enough money to go through with this?” but also: “Have we got enough of the carbon budget to spare to go through with this?” That should and must become the centre of our new currency.

Many people say that we don’t have any solutions to the climate crisis. And they are right. Because how could we? How do you “solve” the greatest crisis that humanity has ever faced? How do you “solve” a war? How do you “solve” going to the moon for the first time? How do you “solve” inventing new inventions?

The climate crisis is both the easiest and the hardest issue we have ever faced. The easiest because we know what we must do. We must stop the emissions of greenhouse gases. The hardest because our current economics are still totally dependent on burning fossil fuels, and thereby destroying ecosystems in order to create everlasting economic growth.

“So, exactly how do we solve that?” you ask us – the schoolchildren striking for the climate.

And we say: “No one knows for sure. But we have to stop burning fossil fuels and restore nature and many other things that we may not have quite figured out yet.”

Then you say: “That’s not an answer!”

So we say: “We have to start treating the crisis like a crisis – and act even if we don’t have all the solutions.”

“That’s still not an answer,” you say.

Then we start talking about circular economy and rewilding nature and the need for a just transition. Then you don’t understand what we are talking about.

We say that all those solutions needed are not known to anyone and therefore we must unite behind the science and find them together along the way. But you do not listen to that. Because those answers are for solving a crisis that most of you don’t even fully understand. Or don’t want to understand.

You don’t listen to the science because you are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before. Like now. And those answers don’t exist anymore. Because you did not act in time.

Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.

Sometimes we just simply have to find a way. The moment we decide to fulfil something, we can do anything. And I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses.

We children are not sacrificing our education and our childhood for you to tell us what you consider is politically possible in the society that you have created. We have not taken to the streets for you to take selfies with us, and tell us that you really admire what we do.

We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.

I hope my microphone was on. I hope you could all hear me.

Hopefully, these climate change speeches will encourage you to take action in your local community. If you need more inspiration then head to my post on the best TED Talks on climate change , my guide to the best YouTube videos on climate change , and the sustainability poems to inspire you.

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Wendy Graham is a sustainability expert and the founder of Moral Fibres, where's she's written hundreds of articles on since starting the site in 2013. She's dedicated to bringing you sustainability advice you can trust.

Wendy holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Geography and an MSc (with Distinction) in Environmental Sustainability - specialising in environmental education.

As well as this, Wendy brings 17 years of professional experience working in the sustainability sector to the blog.

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Climate change is THE challenge of our times. It is up to us all to demonstrate leadership

Mr. Huang Runqiu, CCICED Chinese Executive Vice Chairperson Minister of Ecology and Environment 

Steven Guilbeault, International Executive Vice Chairperson of CCICED, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Canada, 

Fellow Vice Chairpersons 

Excellencies, colleagues and friends.  

It is an honour to serve as Vice Chairperson of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) alongside so many distinguished colleagues. I am pleased to be in Beijing for this Annual General Meeting (AGM).  

By providing key policy recommendations and setting the CCICED’s research priorities for the next year, this AGM can strengthen China’s efforts to address the three environmental planetary crises: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste.  

Poor and marginalized communities have been suffering for years as result of the three crises. This suffering is now spreading to every nation and community. Our planet, our health and our economies are in serious and immediate peril.  

July was the hottest month in recorded history. China hit a record temperature of 52.2 degrees C in Turpan, close to the Kumtag Desert. Four billion people in the Asia-Pacific region are exposed to air pollution. Nature and biodiversity loss continues, with fears growing over the impacts on food systems.   

And so it is clear that the entire world needs to rapidly pivot in every sector to dampen these three crises. That is why I am particularly pleased that the CCICED’s recommendations this year focus on areas that can deliver these pivots – from emissions reductions to green finance to implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework. These are areas that exactly align with UNEP’s mandate. Let’s look at just a few.  

One, carbon neutrality.   

China’s commitments to peak emissions before 2030 and become carbon neutral before 2060 are welcome. And China is, of course, making strides. As the CCICED’s 2022-2023 policy study showed, China contributed around one third of the world’s installed renewable energy capacity in 2021. These numbers are remarkable.   

Allow me to zoom in on climate for a moment and to highlight what I highlight in many of my speeches across the world. It is my contention that climate change is bigger than anything planet earth and, we, its human occupants, have ever experienced. Bigger than politics. Bigger than competition amongst and between nations. Bigger than nations and their civilisations and bigger than our collective history. It is, in the words of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, an existential crisis. I have therefore highlighted in my talks and speeches across the world that climate change cannot be lost in the squabble between nations. Cannot be lost when other crises appear on our doorstep. Lost in the squabble of domestic politics. Lost in the squabble of trade and competition. Or get pushed to the back burner to win the next election or to pacify domestic climate deniers. Or pushed to the back burner to address economic woes. Climate change is THE challenge of our times. And it is up to us all to demonstrate leadership. Here and now.  

For China, therefore, the CCICED recommendation to formulate a systematic coal power phase-out policy involving a number of considerations to maximize benefits is therefore noteworthy of attention. Similarly, the recommendation to move forward faster, science-based strategic planning and policy design are key in areas such as implementing the “1+N” policy system, promoting clean vehicles and boosting energy efficiency. And, of course, I echo the UN Secretary-General’s call for no new coal power plants, domestically or financed abroad.  

China’s renewable energy industry is second to none. This sector is expanding at exponential speed for which China is to be congratulated. With an intensification on the efforts to control and reduce energy demand and with a focus on energy efficiency and with continued focus on acceleration of decarbonization of the high-emitting industry sectors with a clear target of phasing down coal use, China holds the promise of leading the world in demonstrating ambition for climate action.  

Two, reboot consumption and production.   

Unsustainable consumption and production are fuel to the fire of the three crises, so the CCICED’s taskforce on this issue is important. Even more important is China’s full engagement in finalizing the global deal to end plastic pollution. A deal that, by 2024, must be ready to enable the complete redesign of products, packaging and systems. A deal that reduces plastic use, creates the conditions for true circularity and delivers justice for vulnerable communities. We at UNEP applaud China’s 2018 decision no longer to accept imported plastic waste. We also recognize that when it comes to plastic pollution, we cannot recycle our way out of the mess of plastic pollution. We need a complete rethink. Numbers indicate that China produces some 30% of the world’s plastic. So there are tremendous opportunities here for Chinese R&D to invest in reinventing the products that we envelope in plastic. Must the products be liquid? Can the products be delivered in dry form? What are the alternative packaging opportunities? There is a new economy ahead to replace plastic and the early bird gets the worm. So the CCICED’s recommendation for better guidelines in China on Extended Producer Responsibility, the reuse and recycling of plastic products, and the development of viable alternatives are in line with this reboot.   

Three, implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).    

Let me here start out with congratulating China’s Presidency of COP15 under the able leadership of Minister Huang. Let me also stress that the goals of the GBF are consistent with China’s ideal of ecological civilization. We will delve more into this topic during tomorrow’s Open Forum. Now, let me just say this: wins under the GBF that restore nature’s infrastructure are wins across triple planetary crisis. We need to redline protected areas, fulfil the restoration agenda, and finance nature-based solutions. I ask China to demonstrate the same drive it showed in getting the GBF agreed to implementing the framework itself.  

The CCICED has much more on its AGM agenda and draft workplan. Reorienting finance and investment to align with the health of the planet. Unlocking the potential of digital transformation. Harnessing the Blue Economy for food security, jobs and carbon neutrality.  

What is clear is that the CCICED and UNEP want the same thing: a healthier planet upon which people of all nations live in harmony with nature and each other. I look forward to our discussions on how UNEP can support the CCICED and China to make this dream a reality.  

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Read Greta Thunberg's full speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit

Teen environmental activist Greta Thunberg spoke at the United Nations on Monday about climate change, accusing world leaders of inaction and half-measures.

Here are her full remarks:

My message is that we'll be watching you.

This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet, you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words and yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency, but no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act then you would be evil and that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50 percent chance of staying below 1.5 degrees and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

Fifty percent may be acceptable to you, but those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice.

They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

So a 50 percent risk is simply not acceptable to us, we who have to live with the consequences.

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just business as usual and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than eight and a half years.

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us, but the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you and if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up and change is coming, whether you like it or not.

How To Write An Effective Speech On Climate Change

Hrideep barot.

• Speech Writing

Believe it or not, climate change is real–and it’s human beings who’re responsible for a majority of it. Despite how commonly known this information is, it’s surprising how little importance people give to the lasting impact of their seemingly trivial actions.

Over the years, so many people have spoken up about climate change. These include world leaders, celebrities, politicians, and even common people like you and me. If you’ve got a speech on climate change coming up, you’re probably wondering how to make your speech stand out from all of the ones before you.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to help you with today.

To write an effective speech on climate change, you need to keep in mind a couple of things. This includes choosing your purpose, keeping your audience in mind & making it personally relevant to them, emphasizing the immediacy of the situation, incorporating humor and stories.

Before we delve into writing down the speech, let’s first understand what climate change actually means.

What is climate change?

In simple words, climate change is a global phenomenon of climate transformation. It is characterized by unusual changes in the normal climate of the planet and is especially caused by human activities.

As a result of climate change, there is a rapidly rising instability in the earth’s weather. This is detrimental to the earth’s ecosystem and the overall sustainability of the planet. Climate change also puts the future of all living things under threat–and yes, that includes you too.

The warning signs of climate change can be easily observed in our surroundings.

Temperatures are rising rapidly across the globe as a result of global warming. Glaciers are melting at a faster rate. There is a tremendous rise in sea levels, which puts multiple communities as well as marine life at risk. Droughts too are occurring more frequently–and lasting longer.

The warning signs of climate change are all around us. Whether we choose to see them or not, however, is something that depends solely on us.

Things To Keep In Mind While Writing The Speech

1. Choose Your Purpose

Like I mentioned before, so many people have given speeches on climate change before. If you wish to stand out from them, you first need to understand your exact purpose behind delivering the speech.

What I mean is, what do you mean to achieve from delivering the speech? Is your goal to simply provide information to people? Are you trying to convince people about the urgency of climate change? Or maybe you’re participating in a debate competition and want to beat your opponent’s point of view?

The content of your speech is going to be vastly different in all three scenarios. So, before you sit down writing, make sure you’ve decided on the purpose of your speech.

2. Analyzing The Audience

Once you’ve settled your purpose, let’s move onto the next step: analyzing your audience. This is because your content will need to vary depending on what people are going to be filling the auditorium seats.

For instance, if your audience mainly consists of primary school children, then you’re going to need to significantly tone down all the complex stuff in your speech. On the other hand, if your audience consists of experts in the field, then dawdling over the basics is going to be unnecessary.

So, make sure to analyze your audience before you sit down to write your speech.

3. Understand The Occasion

Where and when, exactly, are you going to be giving the speech? Are you going to deliver it as an opening speech at a college event? Are you going to be delivering the speech for a school project? Are you a speaker at a climate change conference?

The occasion plays a vital role in determining the contents of your speech. The overall tone of your speech as well as the type of content you might want to include–or exclude– will depend on how serious or leisurely an event is.

4. Emphasize The Immediacy

A lot of people tend to believe that climate change is something that’s probably going to affect the earth in…a couple of centuries, maybe.

But that is not so. Climate change is already affecting us–and if we do nothing about it, the situation will continue to worsen over the next couple of decades.

Emphasize the immediacy of the problem. It’s when people start realizing how imminent the issue is that they’ll want to do something about it.

5. Why Should They Listen To You?

Why should the audience listen to you? What makes you different than all the other speakers before you? What will make you stand out in their eyes?

Before you sit down and start writing, answer this question to yourself.

There are many ways to be unique in the audience’s eyes. Maybe you’re someone who’s excellent with jokes. Why not structure your speech in a funny way? Or maybe you’re a puppeteer, or simply excellent with haiku. Why not include them in your speech?

6. Timing Your Speech

How long are you going to be speaking for? An hour? Thirty minutes? One minute?

If you’ve already been given a time limit, good. If not, then you need to decide how long you’re going to be speaking before you start writing. This will help you better structure your speech, as well as ensure that you don’t need to cut short your speech on the big day because you’ve run out of time.

7. Making It Resonate With Humor & Stories

As long as you do not manage to make your speech resonate with people, they’re going to forget what you said, just like they’ve forgotten countless speeches before you. So, make sure to include elements like storytelling, humor & statistics in your speech.

Is there a personal incident where you were affected by climate change? Or maybe you saw or heard a story from somewhere else and it really touched you. Well, maybe it will touch your audience too.

Adding elements such as these will increase the impact you have on people, and make it more likely that they will remember you–and your speech-even after you’ve finished speaking.

Check out our article on Guide To Use Humor In Your Speech for some inspiration on how to make your speech more light-hearted and enjoyable.

We can also use the Paraprosdokian technique to make our speeches funny. It’s a simple technique which means narrating a story and having a surprise twist at the end. Want to know how some of our most beloved celebrities go about using this technique (and how you can too)? Check out this (entertaining) video we made:

8. How Does It Personally Impact The Audience?

Almost every person in the world is aware of the negative impact of climate change. And yet, only a few are actually concerned about it–or do something to prevent it.

This is mostly because people do not feel a personal need to do anything about climate change, because they feel like if they’ve not been impacted with climate change yet, then why should they bother paying attention to it?

And this is exactly what you need to change. You need to make them realize that climate change does, in fact, impact them directly. In fact, it probably already has in the past.

This can be done in many ways.

For example: Ask them about their summer, and tell them about rising temperatures in their own city. Ask them if they’ve been under the weather recently, and then tell them how there is a global rise in infectious disease as a consequence of climate change.

Structuring The Speech

The structure of a speech on climate change is pretty similar to any other speech that you might give. That is, it consists of three main parts…

1. The Opening

The opening of a speech is perhaps its most important component. Unless and until you grab your audience’s attention right off of the bat, chances are that you’ve lost it for the rest of your speech.

So, it’s imperative to have an excellent speech opening. There are many ways in which you can customize an attention-grabbing opening for a speech on climate change.

You could start off with a shocking statistic, for one. Or you could include beginning with a story. You could also start with a joke. Another great opening would be using a prop: maybe a model of what the earth will look like fifty years from now.

2. The Content

Your content is going to comprise the majority of your speech. It should include all of your most important points and those points must be lined up in a logical sequence.

Your content shouldn’t go on for seemingly forever. Keep it to the point, and discard anything that you feel you can do without.

If you’ve managed to grab the audience’s attention in the beginning, they’ll be intrigued enough to listen to your actual message.

However, presenting your main content in such a manner that it continues to sustain their interest is your responsibility.

To do so, make sure to incorporate elements like humor, stories, jokes, and games. Make sure you’re using proper body language and appropriate visuals and cues like photos, videos, etc  Mix things up and figure out what works best for you.

3. The Conclusion

Finally, you get to the conclusion. While it might sound like a good idea to quickly thank the audience and get off of the stage, it’s not so.

Your conclusion needs to be as impactful as your speech. This will ensure that your speech remains in the audience’s mind. It will also make it likely that they will want to hear you speak again.

There are many ways to conclude a speech. Having a call to action is a must. You can also end with an impactful quote. Or, you could circle back to something that you said in your speech–maybe finish a story you left off in the beginning.

4. Post-Conclusion

Wait, wait…So it’s not over after the conclusion? I mean, isn’t that the entire POINT of a conclusion? To CONCLUDE?

A conclusion wraps up your speech, sure. But if you truly want to make a lasting impact on your audience’s mind and actually make them take climate change–or any other topic–seriously, then what you do after your speech ends is just as important.

Think of it as an added bonus, like Marvel’s post-credits scenes.

There are many ways to go about having an awesome post-conclusion. Networking is a must. Now that you’re off the stage, it’s time to move around the room. Meet the people in the audience & talk to them. Ask them questions, and answer any they might have for you.

You can also make presentation handouts and give them to the audience. This will help them remember your speech. You could even give them a reference list so that they can look in-depth into your topic.

You could also give them a list of steps that they can take to reduce their own harmful impact on the environment. Or, you could even make a funny handout–maybe a couple of memorable lines from your speech–and give it to them.

Whatever you do, the end goal should be to make them remember you–and to actually do something about what you said.

Sample Climate Change Speech

The Sci-Fi Reality of Climate Change

Indonesia’s capital is sinking. Yes, you heard it right. In 2019, Indonesia announced its plans to shift its capital city from Jatarka, largely because the city is struggling to shoulder a giant environmental burden that keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. Air quality in the city has plunged to new lows–the air in the city is now reported to be even more polluted than cities like Delhi and Beijing. And of course, parts of Jatarka–which is home to over ten million people, almost the same as the city of Los Angeles–are sinking as much as 25 centimeters per year. Climate change is making Indonesia shift its capital. Imagine what will it do to your city or town. Because Indonesia is not the only city on the cusp of being ravaged by climate change. Extreme weather fueled by climate change struck every corner of the globe–from Africa to Australia to Asia–in 2020, leaving in its wake a devastating trail of floods, storms, fires and destruction. While for those of us who are sitting in the comfort of our own homes, climate change might feel like a distant dream, for many people, climate change has already ravaged their fragile reality. John Smith, a farmer from Nevada, is one of them. “It was like hell had shifted to earth.” The Smith family has been growing apples in the foothills of Nevada since the 1950s. However, a couple of weeks ago, a seemingly unstoppable camp fire engulfed the forest near their farm–as well as all the three buildings on their property. They managed to escape with their livestock and what little possessions they could gather. Their dog, Hero, suffered third-degree burns while saving their five-year-old daughter from a collapsing roof. The family had to spend the next twelve months in a trailer near their friends’ property. Three years later, and they’ve managed to patch together bits of their old life. And yet, the threat of another careless camper–and another devastating fire–still looms. In the United States, climate change has been a leading factor for a rapid increase in the frequency & extent of wildfires. Rising temperatures, which is a key component of climate change, is the culprit. Elevated temperatures seep out moisture from the ground and dry up the ground. This makes vegetation more flammable. The wildfire season now lasts approximately three and a half months longer. The number of wildfires in the West has tripled–as has the devastation it leaves in its wake. Today, it is John. Tomorrow, it could be you. In almost every sphere of life, change is inevitable. Students finish high school and enter universities, people switch jobs, or maybe someone moves to a new place… Change is a part of life. And like all other changes, climate change is inevitable–at least, until we actually do something to prevent it.  Out of all the planets in our Galaxy, Earth is–so far–the only planet with a climate capable enough to sustain human life. And yet, human beings seem to find it perfectly alright to take advantage of the Earth’s hospitality. I imagine earth to be like an exhausted host and humans those annoying guests that eat up all your food and destroy your brand new carpet with their muddy feet and just-can’t-take-a-hint and, you know, get out. We need to understand that what actions we choose are solely our responsibility, and we are the ones who will have to bear its consequences–many of which we already are. Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect are the most pressing issues in the current time. And yet secondary consequences of climate change, like the impact of rising temperatures on human lifespan as well as the economic impact of having to deal with secondary damage related to climate change, often go unnoticed. Because, you know, we’ve got more pressing issues to pay attention to. Like, Tiktok getting banned. And whether a metor is going to destroy the earth in the next decade (I’m sure the earth will thank it). Or, the flat earth theory. If Google is to be believed, the interest in both: Flat Earth Conspiracy Theory & Climate Change Skepticism is on the rise. In fact, they’re two of the most popular conspiracy theories today. And yet the interest in the impact of climate change–and what we can do to prevent it–has dwindled to a percentage so abysmal that I don’t find it worth mentioning. Today, we’re on the cusp of tipping into the Sci-Fi movies that everybody loves to binge with a platoon of Doritos packets. And yet, watching a Sci-Fi and actually living in one are two different things.  For one, there is no director or writer shaping the course of our lives behind the scenes. We cannot blame the writer for a plotline going south or a disappointing end–or even the entire show getting canceled. There is no plot requirement or artistic freedom, either. So, just because you’re the favorite of many people doesn’t mean your contract will renew after three seasons and you won’t get killed off.  Unlike directors and authors, nature does not discriminate. When a natural disaster strikes, it strikes everyone and not just a select few. The world has witnessed a tenfold increase in disasters since the 1960s–and unless everybody does something, this number will keep on increasing. And if you’d rather watch a Sci-Fi from the comfort of your home rather than actually living in one, you need to get up from the sofa, step out of your house and do something.  There is a quote from the movie ‘Interstellar’ that I really love. The movie is a Sci-Fi epic from the point of view of a family. Or, more precisely from the eyes of a father and daughter. The quote goes, “Once you’re a parent, you’re the ghost of your child’s future.”  And yet, right now it is you who holds your child’s future in your hands. So maybe in that sense all of us are writers, too: writers of which direction the story of our children’s life will take. Indonesia’s capital is sinking. As is the earth’s future. Now the choice is yours: would you rather let it sink, or will you throw it a life jacket instead?

PS: The above speech can be highlighted much better with the use of visuals and a few Slides. Keep that in mind if you are required to deliver this speech at anypoint.

Powerful Climate Change Speeches

1. leonardo dicaprio at the opening of climate summit 2014.

Key Takeaway: As you watch the speech, notice how Leonardo starts it off. He tries to make a personal connection with the people listening to him by telling the viewers that he’s not an expert on climate change. Instead, he’s just like them.

Throughout the course of his speech, he maintains this stance and uses quotes, anecdotes, etc. to emphasize his point. He makes himself–and his speech–easily relatable to the viewer.

2. Climate Change: Simple, Serious, Solvable By James Rae

Key Takeaway: As you watch the speech, notice how James makes use of visual elements like GIFs and pictures to capture his audience’s attention. The entire speech is peppered with material relevant to his topic, and this addition of visual elements takes the speech to a whole other level. You can use it as a guideline to how to use visuals in your own speech.

3. Confessions Of A Climate Change Humorist: Jim Poyser At TedXIndianapolis

Key Takeaway: As you watch the video, keep an eye on the speaker’s body language. Also, notice how the speaker uses humor to drive forth his point. Humor is a great way to make the audience relate to the topic–and you can make note of how the speaker effectively employs it in his speech to get an idea about how to structure it into your own talk.

To sum up, you can easily write a speech on climate change by keeping in mind factors like making sure you have a distinct purpose, keeping your audience in mind, timing your speech in advance, figuring out what makes you unique, and incorporating humor and storytelling. Additionally, you can skim through the sample speech provided as well as watch Ted Talks to gain an idea of how to write your own speech.

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UN News special coverage: Guterres issues hard-hitting call for climate action

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That's a wrap for our live coverage of one of the most important speeches on climate change that António Guterres has made since becoming Secretary-General. Declaring that now is a "moment on truth" for climate action to keep the 1.5 degree limit in sight, he said it was time to mobilise and deliver, calling on countries to ban advertising by fossil fuel companies. 

• climate change

February 29, 2016

Leonardo DiCaprio Uses Oscar Speech to Urge Action on Climate Change

The world must “stop procrastinating” and tackle “the most urgent threat facing our species”

By Lisa Friedman & ClimateWire

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Leonardo DiCaprio used his Oscar acceptance speech last night to declare that climate change “is real” and to blast what he called the “politics of greed.”

DiCaprio won the Academy Award for best actor for his role in “The Revenant” as a 19th-century frontiersman who is left for dead after being mauled by a bear.

He said making “The Revenant” was “about man’s relationship with the natural world” and noted that the world in 2015 marked its hottest year on record. The production crew, he said, had to move to the “southern tip of this planet” in order to find snow.

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“Climate change is real; it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating,” DiCaprio said, to applause from celebrities and others inside Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.

“Let us not take this planet for granted,” he said.

As he did months earlier in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year, DiCaprio also decried “the politics of greed.” He called on viewers to support leaders “who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for humanity.”

Speaking to reporters after the Academy Awards ceremony, DiCaprio said he had hoped he’d be able to bring his message about climate urgency to the millions of people watching the Oscars. He also directly addressed the upcoming 2016 presidential elections.

“I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude, but I also feel the ticking clock,” he said. “The truth is this: If you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in modern science or empirical truths.”

A longtime environmental activist, DiCaprio has been deeply involved in the climate movement. Last year, he attended a U.N. summit in Paris to lend support to an international accord.

DiCaprio also has bought the movie rights to a post-apocalyptic young adult novel, “The Sandcastle Empire,” which reportedly attracted the actor with its environmental themes ( ClimateWire , Feb. 26).

He said last night that he also is working on a documentary about climate change that has brought him to Greenland, China, India and elsewhere.

“This is the most existential crisis our civilization has ever known, and I wanted to speak out about that,” he said.

Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC.  www.eenews.net , 202-628-6500

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• Climate Change Speech/Global Warming Speech

Download Long and Short Climate Change Speech Essay in English Free PDF from Vedantu

Earth is the only planet which has variety in weather and climate crucial for survival.  But we humans are killing nature to fulfil our need and greed that causes global warming, eventually leading to climate change. Here, we have provided both long and short Climate Change speech or Global Warming speech along with 10 lines for a brief speech on Global Warming. Students can refer to this article whenever they are supposed to write a speech on Global Warming. 

Long Global Warming Speech

Global Warming refers to the Earth's warming, i.e. rise in the Earth's surface temperature. A variety of human activities, such as industrial pollution and the burning of fossil fuels, are responsible for this temperature rise. These operations emit gases that cause the greenhouse effect and, subsequently, global warming. Climate change, starvation, droughts, depletion of biodiversity, etc. are some of the most important consequences of global warming.

The average surface temperature of the planet has risen by around 0.8 ° Celsius since 1880. The rate of warming per decade has been around 0.15 °-0.2 ° Celsius. This is a worldwide shift in the temperature of the planet and should not be confused with the local changes we witness every day, day and night, summer and winter, etc.

There can be several causes for Global Warming, the GreenHouse Effect is believed to be the primary and major cause. This impact is caused primarily by gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbon, nitrous oxides, etc. In the atmosphere around the Earth, these gases form a cover from which the Sun's hot rays can penetrate the Earth but can not leave. So, in the lower circle of the Earth, the heat of the Sun persists, allowing the temperature to increase.

This is not something new, it is not something we weren’t aware of before. Since childhood, each one of us present here has been made to write a speech on Global Warming in their school/college, at least once. We have been made aware of the disastrous effects through movies, articles, competitions, posters, etc. But what have we done? Recently, the Greta Thunberg's Climate Change speech was making headlines. Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old teenager who got the chance to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Although, most of us were quick to term Greta Thunberg Climate Change speech as ‘Scathing’ but very few could point out the need for such a brutal reminder. Remember? “We have been made to write a speech on Global Warming since our school days and nothing changed”. Maybe a searing reminder would bring a change and yes, it sure did.

Now, we have the titanic fame, Leonardo DiCaprio, speaking up about climate change in his Oscar speech as well as at the UN. However, Leonardo Dicaprio's Climate Change speech makes us aware of the fact that this has grown beyond individual choices. If we have to fight climate change, industries and corporations have to take decisive large-scale action.

I would like to end my speech by saying that only spreading awareness isn't the answer. It's time to act, as actions yield results.

Short Speech on Global Warming

Today, I am here to deliver a short speech on Global Warming. We all are well aware of Global Warming and how it results in Climate Change. Owing to global warming, there have been cases of severe drought. Regions, where there used to be a lot of rainfall, are seeing less rainfall. The monsoon trend has shifted around the globe. Global warming also causes ice to melt and the level of the ocean to rise, resulting in floods.

Various species are also widely impacted by global warming. Some land organisms are very vulnerable to changes in temperature and environment and can not tolerate extreme conditions. Koalas, for example, are at risk of famine because of climate change. Several fish and tortoise species are susceptible to changes in ocean temperatures and die.

One of the biggest threats to global security is climate change. Climate change knows no borders and poses us all with an existential threat. A significant security consequence of climate change is a rise in the frequency of severe weather events, especially floods and storms. This has an effect on city and town facilities, access to drinking water, and other services to sustain everyday life. It also displaces the population and since 2008, disasters caused by natural hazards have displaced an average of 26.4 million people annually from their homes. 85% of these are weather-related. This is equal to every second of approximately one person displaced.

It is important that we finally stop debating about it. Schools need to stop making students write a speech on Global Warming or Climate Change and focus on making them capable of living a sustainable life. Face it with courage and honesty. 

10 Lines for Brief Speech on Global Warming

Here, we have provided 10 key pointers for Climate Change Speech for Students.

Global warming refers to the above-average temperature increase on Earth.

The primary cause of global warming is the Greenhouse effect.

Climate change is blamed for global warming, as it badly affects the environment.

The most critical and very important issue that no one can overlook is climate change; it is also spreading its leg in India.

India's average temperature has risen to 1.1 degrees Celsius in recent years.

Living creatures come out of their natural environment due to global warming, and eventually become extinct.

Climate change has contributed to weather pattern disruptions across the globe and has led to unusual shifts in the monsoon.

Human actions, apart from natural forces, have also led to this transition. Global warming leads to drastic climate change, leading to flooding, droughts and other climate catastrophes.

The pattern of monsoon winds is influenced by changes in global temperature and alters the time and intensity of rain. Unpredictable climate change impacts the nation's farming and production.

Planting more trees can be a positive step in eliminating the global warming problem.

What is Climate Change?

Climate change refers to alterations in Earth's climate, it has been happening since the planet was formed. The Climate is always changing. There are different factors that could contribute to Climate Change, including natural events and human activities.

Factors that cause Climate Change

The sun’s energy output

Volcanic eruptions

Earth’s orbit around the sun

Ocean currents

Land-use changes

Greenhouse gasses emissions from human activity

The most significant factor that contributes to Climate Change is greenhouse gasses emissions from human activity. These gasses form a “blanket” around Earth that traps energy from the sun. This trapped energy makes Earth warm and disturbs the Earth’s climate.

The Impact of Climate Change

Climate change is already happening. It is causing more extreme weather conditions, such as floods and droughts.

Climate change could lead to a loss of biodiversity, as plants and animals are unable to adapt to the changing climate.

Climate change could also cause humanitarian crises, as people are forced to migrate because of extreme weather conditions.

Climate change could damage economies, as businesses and industries have to cope with increased energy costs and disrupted supply chains.

Here are some Tips on How to write a Speech on Climate Change:

Start by doing your research. Climate change is a complex topic, and there's a lot of information out there on it. Make sure you understand the basics of climate change before you start writing your speech.

Write down what you want to say. It can be helpful to draft an outline of your speech before you start writing it in full. This will help ensure that your points are clear and organized.

Be passionate about the topic. Climate change is a serious issue, but that doesn't mean you can't talk about it with passion and enthusiasm. Let your audience know how important you think this issue is.

Make it personal. Climate change isn't just a political or scientific issue - it's something that affects each and every one of us. Talk about how climate change has affected you or your loved ones, and let your audience know why this issue matters to you.

Use visuals to help explain your points. A good speech on climate change can be filled with charts, graphs, and statistics. But don't forget to also use powerful images and stories to help illustrate your points.

Stay positive. Climate change can be a depressing topic, but try not to end your speech on a negative note. Instead, talk about the steps we can take to address climate change and the positive outcomes that could come from it.

Start by defining what climate change is. Climate change is a problem that refers to a broad array of environmental degradation caused by human activities, including the emission of greenhouse gasses.

Talk about the effects of climate change. Climate change has been linked to increased wildfires, more extreme weather events, coastal flooding, and reduced crop yields, among other things.

Offer solutions to climate change. Some solutions include reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy sources, and planting trees to help absorb carbon dioxide.

Appeal to your audience’s emotions. Climate change is a problem that affects everyone, and it’s important to get people emotionally invested in the issue.

Make sure your speech is well-organized and easy to follow. Climate change can be a complex topic, so make sure your speech is clear and concise.

FAQs on Climate Change Speech/Global Warming Speech

1. What should be the main focus of my speech? Can I use statistics in my speech?

The main focus of your speech should be on the effects of climate change and the solutions we can enact to address it. However, you can also talk about your personal connection to the issue or how climate change has affected your community. Yes, you can use statistics to support your points, but don’t forget to also use images and stories to help illustrate your points.

2. How much should I talk about the potential solutions to climate change?

You should spend roughly equal time discussing both the effects of climate change and potential solutions. Climate change is a complex issue, and it’s important to provide your audience with both the facts and potential solutions.

3. Can I talk about how climate change has personally affected me in my speech?

Yes, you can talk about how climate change has personally affected you or your loved ones. Climate change is a serious issue that affects everyone, so it’s important to get people emotionally invested in the issue.

4. Are there any other things I should keep in mind while preparing my speech?

Yes, make sure your speech is well-organized and easy to follow. Climate change can be a complex topic, so make sure your speech is clear and concise. Also, remember to appeal to your audience’s emotions and stay positive. Climate change can be a depressing topic, but try not to end your speech on a negative note. Instead, talk about the steps we can take to address climate change and the positive outcomes that could come from it.

5. Where can I find more information about preparing a speech on climate change?

The best place to start is by reading some of the reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). You can also find helpful resources on the websites of Climate Reality Project or Greenpeace.

6. How long should my speech be?

Your speech should be between 5 and 7 minutes in length. Any longer than that, and your audience will start to lose interest. Climate change can be a complex issue, so it’s important to keep your points brief and concise. If you need help organizing your speech, consider using the following outline:

Define what climate change is;

Talk about the effects of climate change;

Offer solutions to climate change;

Appeal to your audience’s emotions.

7. How can I download reading material from Vedantu?

Accessing material from Vedantu is extremely easy and student-friendly. Students have to simply visit the website of  Vedantu and create an account. Once you have created the account you can simply explore the subjects and chapters that you are looking for. Click on the download button available on the website on Vedantu to download the reading material in PDF format. You can also access all the resources by downloading the Vedantu app from the play store.

• Secretary-General
• Statements and Messages

Humanity Needs ‘Exit Ramp off Road to Climate Hell’, Secretary-General Insists, Urging Bolder, Faster Action to Save Planet, in Address at American Natural History Museum

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ special address on climate action, “A Moment of Truth”, to the American Museum of Natural History, in New York today:

Today is World Environment Day.  It is also the day that the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service officially reports May 2024 as the hottest May in recorded history.

This marks 12 straight months of the hottest months ever.  For the past year, every turn of the calendar has turned up the heat.  Our planet is trying to tell us something.  But we don’t seem to be listening.

The American Museum of Natural History is the ideal place to make the point.  This great Museum tells the amazing story of our natural world.  Of the vast forces that have shaped life on Earth over billions of years.  Humanity is just one small blip on the radar.  But like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact. In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs.  We are the meteor.  We are not only in danger.  We are the danger.  But we are also the solution.

We are at a moment of truth.  The truth is almost 10 years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, the target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging by a thread.  The truth is the world is spewing emissions so fast that by 2030, a far higher temperature rise would be all but guaranteed.

Brand new data from leading climate scientists released today show the remaining carbon budget to limit long-term warming to 1.5 degrees is now around 200 billion tons.  That is the maximum amount of carbon dioxide that the Earth’s atmosphere can take if we are to have a fighting chance of staying within the limit.

The truth is we are burning through the budget at reckless speed — spewing out around 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year.  We can all do the math.  At this rate, the entire carbon budget will be busted before 2030.  The truth is global emissions need to fall 9 per cent every year until 2030 to keep the 1.5-degree limit alive.  But they are heading in the wrong direction.  Last year they rose by 1 per cent.

The truth is we already face incursions into 1.5-degree territory.  The World Meteorological Organization reports today that there is an 80 per cent chance the global annual average temperature will exceed the 1.5-degree limit in at least one of the next five years.  In 2015, the chance of such a breach was near zero.  And there’s a 50-50 chance that the average temperature for the entire next five-year period will be 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial times.

We are playing Russian roulette with our planet.  We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.  And the truth is we have control of the wheel.  The 1.5-degree limit is still just about possible.  Let’s remember — it’s a limit for the long-term — measured over decades, not months or years.  So, stepping over the threshold 1.5 for a short time does not mean the long-term goal is shot.  It means we need to fight harder.  Now.

The truth is the battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s — under the watch of leaders today.  All depends on the decisions those leaders take — or fail to take — especially in the next 18 months.

It’s climate crunch time.  The need for action is unprecedented but so is the opportunity – not just to deliver on climate, but on economic prosperity and sustainable development.  Climate action cannot be captive to geopolitical divisions.

So, as the world meets in Bonn for climate talks, and gears up for the Group of 7 (G7) and Group of 20 (G20) Summits, the United Nations General Assembly, and COP29 [Twenty-ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change], we need maximum ambition, maximum acceleration, maximum cooperation — in a word, maximum action.

Why all this fuss about 1.5 degrees?  Because our planet is a mass of complex, connected systems. And every fraction of a degree of global heating counts.  The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island States and coastal communities.  The difference between minimizing climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points.  1.5 degrees is not a target.  It is not a goal.  It is a physical limit.

Scientists have alerted us that temperatures rising higher would likely mean:  the collapse of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet with catastrophic sea level rise; the destruction of tropical coral reef systems and the livelihoods of 300 million people; the collapse of the Labrador Sea Current that would further disrupt weather patterns in Europe; and widespread permafrost melt that would release devastating levels of methane, one of the most potent heat-trapping gasses.

Even today, we’re pushing planetary boundaries to the brink — shattering global temperature records and reaping the whirlwind.

And it is a travesty of climate justice that those least responsible for the crisis are hardest hit:  the poorest people; the most vulnerable countries; Indigenous Peoples; women and girls.  The richest 1 per cent emit as much as two thirds of humanity.

And extreme events turbocharged by climate chaos are piling up: destroying lives, pummelling economies and hammering health; wrecking sustainable development; forcing people from their homes; and rocking the foundations of peace and security — as people are displaced and vital resources depleted.

Already this year, a brutal heatwave has baked Asia with record temperatures — shrivelling crops, closing schools and killing people.  Cities from New Delhi to Bamako to Mexico City are scorching.  Here in the United States, savage storms have destroyed communities and lives.  We’ve seen drought disasters declared across Southern Africa; extreme rains flood the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Brazil; and a mass global coral bleaching caused by unprecedented ocean temperatures, soaring past the worst predictions of scientists.

The cost of all this chaos is hitting people where it hurts: from supply-chains severed to rising prices, mounting food insecurity and uninsurable homes and businesses.  That bill will keep growing.  Even if emissions hit zero tomorrow, a recent study found that climate chaos will still cost at least $38 trillion a year by 2050.

Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities.  Meanwhile, the godfathers of climate chaos — the fossil fuel industry — rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies.

We have what we need to save ourselves.  Our forests, our wetlands and our oceans absorb carbon from the atmosphere.  They are vital to keeping 1.5 alive or pulling us back if we do overshoot that limit. We must protect them.

And we have the technologies we need to slash emissions. Renewables are booming as costs plummet and Governments realize the benefits of cleaner air, good jobs, energy security and increased access to power.  Onshore wind and solar are the cheapest source of new electricity in most of the world — and have been for years.

Renewables already make up 30 per cent of the world’s electricity supply.  And clean energy investments reached a record high last year — almost doubling in the last 10 [years].  Wind and solar are now growing faster than any electricity source in history.

Economic logic makes the end of the fossil fuel age inevitable.  The only questions are:  Will that end come in time?  And will the transition be just?  We must ensure the answer to both questions is: yes.  And we must secure the safest possible future for people and planet.

That means taking urgent action, particularly over the next 18 months:  to slash emissions; to protect people and nature from climate extremes; to boost climate finance; and to clamp down on the fossil fuel industry.

Let me take each element in turn.

First, huge cuts in emissions.  Led by the huge emitters.  The G20 countries produce 80 per cent of global emissions — they have the responsibility, and the capacity, to be out in front.  Advanced G20 economies should go furthest, fastest, and show climate solidarity by providing technological and financial support to emerging G20 economies and other developing countries.

Next year, Governments must submit so-called nationally determined contributions — in other words, national climate action plans. And these will determine emissions for the coming years.

At COP28, countries agreed to align those plans with the 1.5-degree limit.  These national plans must include absolute emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2035.

They must cover all sectors, all greenhouse gases and the whole economy.  And they must show how countries will contribute to the global transitions essential to 1.5 degrees — putting us on a path to global net zero by 2050; to phase out fossil fuels; and to hit global milestones along the way, year after year, and decade after decade.

That includes, by 2030, contributing to cutting global production and consumption of all fossil fuels by at least 30 per cent; and making good on commitments made at COP28 — on ending deforestation, doubling energy efficiency and tripling renewables.

Every country must deliver and play their rightful part.  That means that G20 leaders working in solidarity to accelerate a just global energy transition aligned with the 1.5-degree limit. They must assume their responsibilities. We need cooperation, not finger-pointing.

It means the G20 aligning their national climate action plans, their energy strategies and their plans for fossil fuel production and consumption, within a 1.5-degree future.  It means the G20 pledging to reallocate subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables, storage and grid modernization, and support for vulnerable communities.

It means the G7 and other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries committing to end coal by 2030 and to create fossil-fuel-free power systems and reduce oil and gas supply and demand by 60 per cent — by 2035.  It means all countries ending new coal projects — now.  Particularly in Asia, home to 95 per cent of planned new coal power capacity.

It means non-OECD countries creating climate action plans to put them on a path to ending coal power by 2040.  And it means developing countries creating national climate action plans that double as investment plans, spurring sustainable development and meeting soaring energy demand with renewables.

The United Nations is mobilizing our entire system to help developing countries to achieve this through our Climate Promise initiative.

Every city, region, industry, financial institution and company must also be part of the solution.  They must present robust transition plans by COP30 next year in Brazil — at the latest:  plans aligned with 1.5 degrees and the recommendations of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero.

Plans that cover emissions across the entire value chain; that include interim targets and transparent verification processes; and that steer clear of the dubious carbon offsets that erode public trust while doing little or nothing to help the climate.

We can’t fool nature.  False solutions will backfire.  We need high-integrity carbon markets that are credible and with rules consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.

I also encourage scientists and engineers to focus urgently on carbon dioxide removal and storage — to deal safely and sustainably with final emissions from the heavy industries hardest to clean.  And I urge Governments to support them.

But let me be clear:  These technologies are not a silver bullet; they cannot be a substitute for drastic emissions cuts or an excuse to delay fossil fuel phase-out.  But we need to act on every front.

The second area for action is ramping up protection from the climate chaos of today and tomorrow.  It is a disgrace that the most vulnerable are being left stranded, struggling desperately to deal with a climate crisis they did nothing to create. We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unliveable lands.

We must safeguard people and economies.  Every person on Earth must be protected by an early warning system by 2027.  I urge all partners to boost support for the United Nations Early Warnings for All action plan.

In April, the G7 launched the Adaptation Accelerator Hub. By COP29, this initiative must be translated into concrete action — to support developing countries in creating adaptation investment plans and putting them into practice. And I urge all countries to set out their adaptation and investment needs clearly in their new national climate plans.

But change on the ground depends on money on the table.  For every dollar needed to adapt to extreme weather, only about five cents is available.  As a first step, all developed countries must honour their commitment to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion a year by 2025. And they must set out a clear plan to close the adaptation finance gap by COP29 in November.

But we also need more fundamental reform.  That leads me onto my third point:  finance.

If money makes the world go round, today’s unequal financial flows are sending us spinning towards disaster.  The global financial system must be part of the climate solution.  Eye-watering debt repayments are drying up funds for climate action.  Extortion-level capital costs are putting renewables virtually out of reach for most developing and emerging economies.

Astoundingly — and despite the renewables boom of recent years — clean energy investments in developing and emerging economies outside of China have been stuck at the same levels since 2015. Last year, just 15 per cent of new clean energy investment went to emerging markets and developing economies outside China — countries representing nearly two thirds of the world’s population.

And Africa was home to less than 1 per cent of last year’s renewables installations, despite its wealth of natural resources and vast renewables potential.

The International Energy Agency reports that clean energy investments in developing and emerging economies beyond China need to reach up to $1.7 trillion a year by the early 2030s.  In short, we need a massive expansion of affordable public and private finance to fuel ambitious new climate plans and deliver clean, affordable energy for all.

This September’s Summit of the Future is an opportunity to push reform of the international financial architecture and action on debt.  I urge countries to take it.  And I urge the G7 and G20 Summits to commit to using their influence within Multilateral Development Banks to make them better, bigger and bolder.  And able to leverage far more private finance at reasonable cost.

Countries must make significant contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund.  And ensure that it is open for business by COP29.  And they must come together to secure a strong finance outcome from COP this year — one that builds trust and confidence, catalyses the trillions needed and generates momentum for reform of the international financial architecture.

But none of this will be enough without new, innovative sources of funds.  It is [high] time to put an effective price on carbon and tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies.

By COP29, we need early movers to go from exploring to implementing solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation and fossil fuel extraction — to help fund climate action.  These should be scalable, fair and easy to collect and administer.

None of this is charity.  It is enlightened self-interest.  Climate finance is not a favour.  It is fundamental element to a liveable future for all.

Fourth and finally, we must directly confront those in the fossil fuel industry who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress — over decades.  Billions of dollars have been thrown at distorting the truth, deceiving the public and sowing doubt.  I thank the academics and the activists, the journalists and the whistleblowers, who have exposed those tactics — often at great personal and professional risk.

I call on leaders in the fossil fuel industry to understand that if you are not in the fast lane to clean energy transformation, you are driving your business into a dead end — and taking us all with you.  Last year, the oil and gas industry invested a measly 2.5 per cent of its total capital spending on clean energy.

Doubling down on fossil fuels in the twenty-first century, is like doubling down on horseshoes and carriage wheels in the nineteenth.  So, to fossil fuel executives, I say:  your massive profits give you the chance to lead the energy transition.  Don’t miss it.

Financial institutions are also critical because money talks.  It must be a voice for change.

I urge financial institutions to stop bankrolling fossil fuel destruction and start investing in a global renewables revolution; to present public, credible and detailed plans to transition [funding] from fossil fuels to clean energy with clear targets for 2025 and 2030; and to disclose your climate risks — both physical and transitional — to your shareholders and regulators.  Ultimately, such disclosure should be mandatory.

Many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action — with lobbying, legal threats and massive ad campaigns.  They have been aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies – Mad Men , remember the TV series — fuelling the madness.

I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction.  Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones.  Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet — they’re toxic for your brand. Your sector is full of creative minds who are already mobilizing around this cause.  They are gravitating towards companies that are fighting for our planet — not trashing it.

I also call on countries to act.  Many Governments restrict or prohibit advertising for products that harm human health — like tobacco.  Some are now doing the same with fossil fuels.  I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies.  And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising.

We must all deal also with the demand side.  All of us can make a difference, by embracing clean technologies, phasing down fossil fuels in our own lives and using our power as citizens to push for systemic change.

In the fight for a liveable future, people everywhere are far ahead of politicians.  Make your voices heard and your choices count.

We do have a choice.  Creating tipping points for climate progress or careening to tipping points for climate disaster.  No country can solve the climate crisis in isolation.  This is an all-in moment.  The United Nations is all-in — working to build trust, find solutions and inspire the cooperation our world so desperately needs.

And to young people, to civil society, to cities, regions, businesses and others who have been leading the charge towards a safer, cleaner world, I say:  Thank you. You are on the right side of history. You speak for the majority.  Keep it up.  Don’t lose courage.  Don’t lose hope.

It is We the Peoples versus the polluters and the profiteers.  Together, we can win.  But it’s time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on.  Tomorrow it will be too late.  Now is the time to mobilize, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver. This is our moment of truth.

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White House previews second-term climate work

By Robin Bravender | 06/12/2024 04:23 PM EDT

“There’s a lot more work to be done,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attends a news conference May 16 in the briefing room at the White House. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Expect climate change to be a top priority for President Joe Biden if he clinches a second term.

Health care, climate change and lowering costs will be among Biden’s top issues in a second term as president, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday aboard Air Force One as Biden and his team traveled to Italy for a G7 summit.

If elected to a second term, “the president is going to continue to work on behalf of the American people,” Jean-Pierre said. “There’s a lot more work to be done and we see that, we understand that Americans are still struggling,” she added. “But we have seen some progress, and we want to continue that progress.”

Her comments came as Biden prepares to face off against former President Donald Trump in the November election. The two candidates offer dramatically different views on climate policy; Biden has made cutting emissions a key theme of his administration, while Trump is touting plans to roll back Biden’s policies and slash environmental agencies .

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The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

Remarks by Vice President Harris on Climate   Resilience

Florida International University Miami, Florida

4:11 P.M. EDT THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Can we give it up for Yendy, please?  (Applause.)  Please have a seat.  Please have a seat.  I said to Yendy he — he did an excellent job.  You know, public speaking is very difficult, but you — you hope that, at the end of your presentation, that you not only share something that people may not know and, in that way, teach them, but that you help them to feel something.  And your words caused all of us to feel something about our mutual commitment.  (Applause.)  So thank you for that.  Outstanding. Good afternoon, everyone.  Good afternoon.  It’s good to be with everyone.  And — and I want to just thank all of you for being here and for all that you have done. You know, it is a very challenging time in our country right now on this topic and many others.  And it is good to be back in Miami with all of you and with the leaders who are here — (applause) — on the campus of FIU — (applause) — to discuss a very important topic.  And I particularly want to thank the members of our administration, the leaders who have been doing extraordinary work on this subject — Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, NOAA — (applause) — yes — NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad — (applause) — and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.  (Applause.)  Thank you all.  Thank you. I also want to thank the members of Congress who are here.  We have Congresswoman Frederica Wilson who is here — (applause) — and Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick who is here.  (Applause.)  They were kind enough to meet me on the tarmac as we arrived this afternoon, so thank you.  And I also want to thank the local officials who are here, including the Mayor of Miami Beach, Dan Gelber.  (Applause.) And to everyone, thank you for your leadership and thank you for your hard work.  So, for years, our nation and many of us have discussed, have lamented, have talked about the threat of climate change.  For years, we debated the potential impact that climate change could have on our communities, on our country, and our world. And today we know the impact, if folks weren’t clear about it before.  Just watch the evening news and see that the time for debate is long past.  (Applause.)  Climate change has become a climate crisis.  And a threat has now become a reality. In recent days, deadly floods have swept through Missouri and Kentucky, washing away entire neighborhoods, leaving at least 35 dead including babies, children.  As has been reported, four children from one family. So, the devastation is real.  The harm is real.  The impact is real.  And we are witnessing it in real-time. In the West, an historic megadrought has made access to clean water increasingly uncertain. In my home state of California, wildfires burned more than 2.5 million acres last year alone.  Andy I were talking about it; my brother-in-law is a firefighter.  And I thank you for giving praise to all of those who have dedicated their lives to that work. Devastating — it has been devastating what we are witnessing — to so many families and so many communities. And over the past few days in California, the McKinney Fire has left two dead and forced thousands in California to evacuate their homes. And here in Florida, every year, more and more powerful hurricanes and tropical storms make landfall on the coast. In addition, across our nation, heat waves have forced tens of millions of people to endure record-setting temperatures. Last year, our nation experienced a total of 20 climate-driven extreme weather events, which caused — each caused more than $1 billion in damage — each one — and, more importantly, resulted in the death of about 700 people. Earlier today, at the National Hurricane Center, I received a briefing on extreme weather fueled by climate change. And the takeaway is clear: As the climate crisis gets worse, extreme weather will pose a rapidly growing danger to a rapidly growing number of communities. So, to protect the people of our nation, let us understand that we can match that desire with action and that we must act now.  And I — and I can tell you, President Joe Biden and I, we understand that when disaster strikes anywhere in America, we have a duty to act, and — I think we all know here — we all, as leaders, certainly have the capacity to act. To provide support and resources has been a goal and a priority for our community but for our administration, so that we can respond and recover and rebuild when disaster hits certain communities.  The President and I also have a duty to act not only after disaster strikes but before disaster strikes.  And that is why we are here today.  (Applause.) Today, our administration is investing more than $1 billion through FEMA to fund climate resilient [resilience] projects in 343 cities, towns, and counties around our nation.  (Applause.) And here’s how it works: So, local governments apply for these grants.  They tell us which projects would be most impactful.  And together, then, we build those projects.  For example, our administration is partnering with Kern County, in California, to invest in underground water storage so families can have access to clean water during droughts. We are partnering with Austin, Texas, to upgrade Austin’s power grid so that homes and businesses and houses of worship can keep on the electricity during summer heat and winter storms.  And we are partnering with folks right here in Miami. Together, we will invest $50 million to protect low-lying neighborhoods from sea-level rise and storm surge.  (Applause.) All of these projects will create good jobs and good union jobs in our communities.  (Applause.)  And these projects will also strengthen our economy by preventing billions of dollars of damage from extreme weather.  This $1 billion investment is double what our administration did last year.  And as President Biden recently announced, next year we will be doubling that investment once again to more than $2 billion.  (Applause.) In awarding these grants, we have paid special attention to the issue of equity, something that has been an area of focus for our administration from the beginning.  (Applause.)  We know that the impact of the climate crisis is not felt equally across all communities.  Consider: Heat waves pose a greater threat to people who don’t have air conditioning or who work in high-heat workplaces, such as warehouses or farm fields.  Emergency evacuations are often more difficult for people with disabilities — for example, people who use wheelchairs or people who are visually impaired.  And emergency evacuations can also be more difficult for folks who travel with sick or aging family members, such as a child who might require constant medical attention. And low-income communities, including rural communities, often do not have the resources that are needed to invest in resilience or to rebuild after disaster has struck.  The climate crisis has exposed and intensified generations of economic and environmental inequities that have been present in communities across our nation.  And our administration remains committed to addressing those inequities through environmental justice.  (Applause.) In awarding these grants, we have prioritized projects that will protect the communities that are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis.  And these investments are one part of a larger fight. The most effective way to protect our nation is not only to address the effects of climate disasters, but to address the cause of the climate crisis itself.  (Applause.) And that is why last year we set an ambitious goal.  Our nation will cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half by no later than 2030.  And by no later than 2050, we will reach net zero emissions.  (Applause.)  Some say that is an ambitious goal; I say it is doable.  It is doable.  (Applause.)  Think about it: The transportation sector is our nation’s single-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.  So, to address that, we have invested tens of billions of dollars to put more electric vehicles on the road.  (Applause.)   In fact, when I was in the United States Senate, we were able to do the work of saying that we should focus on the issue of electric school buses.  And I was proud to introduce the first piece of legislation to electrify our nation’s fleet of school buses to that end.  (Applause.)  And the transition is now underway.  For example, in Miami-Dade County, public schools will soon have 50 electric school buses on the roads.  (Applause.)  And that is not all.  Our administration has also invested $65 billion into the electric grid and transmission infrastructure for our nation — so to build thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines.  And in that way, we can move clean energy from where it is created to where it is needed.  It is literally about the transportation of energy.  So, think: From a wind farm in Iowa to a suburb in Chicago, or from a solar farm in Nevada to a family farm in Missouri.  How exciting is that.  (Applause.)  And it will make our nation more energy independent.  (Applause.)  And it will lower electricity bills for millions of working families.  (Applause.)  So, these investments are an important step forward.  And our nation will soon take another great step forward in our fight against the climate crisis. President Biden and I strongly support the agreement announced last week by Leader Schumer and Senator Manchin.  (Applause.)  In addition to lowering the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs for millions of Americans, this agreement will invest nearly $370 billion in clean energy, zero-emission vehicles, environmental justice, and more. This is an historic opportunity to advance our fight against the climate crisis. And so, Congress, we ask that you pass it immediately.  (Applause.)  So, all of this to say: The climate crisis is here.  It has arrived, and we are experiencing it in real time.  And we have the ability — dare I say the responsibility — to take urgent action to protect the people of our nation.  And, again, we all have a role to play. So, Miami, I know that you know the urgency of this moment.  You are living it every day.  And your voice is so important on this issue. If we act now and we act together, we can protect our communities from the disasters that we are witnessing.  We can tackle the climate crisis and make sure all people can breathe clean air, drink clean water, and have access to clean energy. We can build a more sustainable future.  We can do this.  We can build a more equitable future.  It’s within our power.  And we can build a more resilient future.  That’s within our sights.  And in the process, yes, we will create millions of good jobs in the clean energy economy.  (Applause.)  So, to the leaders here, I say: Miami, together we are building that future.  And we will not tire in spite of all that we are witnessing that shows us such tragedy.  I know that while we send our prayers and our love, we also, with each day, renew our commitment to the urgency of now and the ability that we have collectively — all of us in it together — to do something about it. May God bless you, and may God bless America.  (Applause.)  Thank you all. END                4:28 P.M. EDT

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Paul Krugman

The Stench of Climate Change Denial

By Paul Krugman

Opinion Columnist

This may sound a bit weird, but when I think about my adolescent years, I sometimes associate them with the faint smell of sewage.

You see, when I was in high school, my family lived on the South Shore of Long Island, where few homes had sewer connections. Most had septic tanks, and there always seemed to be an overflowing tank somewhere upwind.

Most of Nassau County eventually got sewered . But many American homes, especially in the Southeast, aren’t connected to sewer lines, and more and more septic tanks are overflowing, on a scale vastly greater than what I remember from my vaguely smelly hometown — which is both disgusting and a threat to public health.

The cause? Climate change. Along the Gulf and South Atlantic coasts, The Washington Post reported last week, “sea levels have risen at least six inches since 2010.” This may not sound like much, but it leads to rising groundwater and elevated risks of overflowing tanks.

The emerging sewage crisis is only one of many disasters we can expect as the planet continues to warm, and nowhere near the top of the list. But it seems to me to offer an especially graphic illustration of two points. First, the damage from climate change is likely to be more severe than even pessimists have tended to believe. Second, mitigation and adjustment — which are going to be necessary, because we’d still be headed for major effects of climate change even if we took immediate action to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions — will probably be far more difficult, as a political matter, than it should be.

On the first point: Estimating the costs of climate change and, relatedly, the costs polluters impose every time they emit another ton of carbon dioxide requires fusing results from two disciplines. On one side, we need physical scientists to figure out how much greenhouse gas emissions will warm the planet, how this will change weather patterns and so on. On the other, we need economists to estimate how these physical changes will affect productivity, health care costs and more.

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05 june 2024, secretary-general's special address on climate action "a moment of truth" [as delivered].

Dear friends of the planet,

Today is World Environment Day.

It is also the day that the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service officially reports May 2024 as the hottest May in recorded history.   

This marks twelve straight months of the hottest months ever. 

For the past year, every turn of the calendar has turned up the heat.

Our planet is trying to tell us something.  But we don't seem to be listening.

Dear Friends,

The American Museum of Natural History is the ideal place to make the point.

This great Museum tells the amazing story of our natural world. Of the vast forces that have shaped life on earth over billions of years. 

Humanity is just one small blip on the radar.

But like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact.

In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs.

We are the meteor.

We are not only in danger.

We are the danger.

But we are also the solution.

So, dear friends,

We are at a moment of truth.

The truth is … almost ten years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, the target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging by a thread.

The truth is … the world is spewing emissions so fast that by 2030, a far higher temperature rise would be all but guaranteed.

Brand new data from leading climate scientists released today show the remaining carbon budget to limit long-term warming to 1.5 degrees is now around 200 billion tonnes.  

That is the maximum amount of carbon dioxide that the earth’s atmosphere can take if we are to have a fighting chance of staying within the limit.

The truth is… we are burning through the budget at reckless speed – spewing out around 40 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

We can all do the math.

At this rate, the entire carbon budget will be busted before 2030.

The truth is … global emissions need to fall nine per cent every year until 2030 to keep the 1.5 degree limit alive. 

But they are heading in the wrong direction. 

Last year they rose by one per cent.   The truth is… we already face incursions into 1.5-degree territory.

The World Meteorological Organisation reports today that there is an eighty per cent chance the global annual average temperature will exceed the 1.5 degree limit in at least one of the next five years.

In 2015, the chance of such a breach was near zero.

And there’s a fifty-fifty chance that the average temperature for the entire next five-year period will be 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial times.

We are playing Russian roulette with our planet.

We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell. 

And the truth is… we have control of the wheel.

The 1.5 degree limit is still just about possible.

Let’s remember – it’s a limit for the long-term – measured over decades, not months or years.

So, stepping over the threshold 1.5 for a short time does not mean the long-term goal is shot.

It means we need to fight harder.

The truth is… the battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s – under the watch of leaders today. 

All depends on the decisions those leaders take – or fail to take – especially in the next eighteen months.

It’s climate crunch time. 

The need for action is unprecedented but so is the opportunity – not just to deliver on climate, but on economic prosperity and sustainable development.

Climate action cannot be captive to geo-political divisions.

So, as the world meets in Bonn for climate talks, and gears up for the G7 and G20 Summits, the United Nations General Assembly, and COP29, we need maximum ambition, maximum acceleration, maximum cooperation - in a word maximum action.

So dear friends,

Why all this fuss about 1.5 degrees?

Because our planet is a mass of complex, connected systems.  And every fraction of a degree of global heating counts. 

The difference between 1.5 and two degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities.

The difference between minimizing climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points.

1.5 degrees is not a target.  It is not a goal.  It is a physical limit.

Scientists have alerted us that temperatures rising higher would likely mean:

The collapse of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet with catastrophic sea level rise;

The destruction of tropical coral reef systems and the livelihoods of 300 million people;

The collapse of the Labrador Sea Current that would further disrupt weather patterns in Europe;

And widespread permafrost melt that would release devastating levels of methane, one of the most potent heat-trapping gasses.

Even today, we’re pushing planetary boundaries to the brink – shattering global temperature records and reaping the whirlwind.    

And it is a travesty of climate justice that those least responsible for the crisis are hardest hit: the poorest people; the most vulnerable countries; Indigenous Peoples; women and girls.

The richest one per cent emit as much as two-thirds of humanity. 

And extreme events turbocharged by climate chaos are piling up:

Destroying lives, pummelling economies, and hammering health;

Wrecking sustainable development; forcing people from their homes; and rocking the foundations of peace and security – as people are displaced and vital resources depleted. 

Already this year, a brutal heatwave has baked Asia with record temperatures – shrivelling crops, closing schools, and killing people.   

Cities from New Delhi, to Bamako, to Mexico City are scorching.  

Here in the US, savage storms have destroyed communities and lives.

We’ve seen drought disasters declared across southern Africa;

Extreme rains flood the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Brazil;

And a mass global coral bleaching caused by unprecedented ocean temperatures, soaring past the worst predictions of scientists.

The cost of all this chaos is hitting people where it hurts:

From supply-chains severed, to rising prices, mounting food insecurity, and uninsurable homes and businesses. 

That bill will keep growing.  Even if emissions hit zero tomorrow, a recent study found that climate chaos will still cost at least $38 trillion a year by 2050.

Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities. 

Meanwhile, the Godfathers of climate chaos – the fossil fuel industry – rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies.

Dear friends,

We have what we need to save ourselves. 

Our forests, our wetlands, and our oceans absorb carbon from the atmosphere.  They are vital to keeping 1.5 alive, or pulling us back if we do overshoot that limit.  We must protect them. 

And we have the technologies we need to slash emissions. 

Renewables are booming as costs plummet and governments realise the benefits of cleaner air, good jobs, energy security, and increased access to power.

Onshore wind and solar are the cheapest source of new electricity in most of the world – and have been for years.

Renewables already make up thirty percent of the world’s electricity supply.

And clean energy investments reached a record high last year – almost doubling in the last ten [years].

Wind and solar are now growing faster than any electricity source in history.

Economic logic makes the end of the fossil fuel age inevitable.

The only questions are:  Will that end come in time?  And will the transition be just? 

We must ensure the answer to both questions is: yes.

And we must secure the safest possible future for people and planet.

That means taking urgent action, particularly over the next eighteen months:

To slash emissions;

To protect people and nature from climate extremes;

To boost climate finance;

And to clamp down on the fossil fuel industry.

Let me take each element in turn. 

First, huge cuts in emissions.  Led by the huge emitters.   The G20 countries produce eighty percent of global emissions – they have the responsibility, and the capacity, to be out in front.

Advanced G20 economies should go furthest, fastest;

And show climate solidarity by providing technological and financial support to emerging G20 economies and other developing countries. 

Next year, governments must submit so-called nationally determined contributions – in other words, national climate action plans.  And these will determine emissions for the coming years.

At COP28, countries agreed to align those plans with the 1.5 degree limit. 

These national plans must include absolute emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2035.

They must cover all sectors, all greenhouse gases, and the whole economy.

And they must show how countries will contribute to the global transitions essential to 1.5 degrees – putting us on a path to global net zero by 2050; to phase out fossil fuels; and to hit global milestones along the way, year after year, and decade after decade.   That includes, by 2030, contributing to cutting global production and consumption of all fossil fuels by at least thirty percent; and making good on commitments made at COP28 – on ending deforestation, doubling energy efficiency and tripling renewables.

Every country must deliver and play their rightful part.

That means that G20 leaders working in solidarity to accelerate a just global energy transition aligned with the 1.5 degree limit.  They must assume their responsibilities.

We need cooperation, not finger-pointing.

It means the G20 aligning their national climate action plans, their energy strategies, and their plans for fossil fuel production and consumption, within a 1.5 degree future.

It means the G20 pledging to reallocate subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables, storage, and grid modernisation, and support for vulnerable communities.

It means the G7 and other OECD countries committing: to end coal by 2030; and to create fossil-fuel free power systems, and reduce oil and gas supply and demand by sixty percent – by 2035.   It means all countries ending new coal projects – now.  Particularly in Asia, home to ninety-five percent of planned new coal power capacity.

It means non-OECD countries creating climate action plans to put them on a path to ending coal power by 2040. 

And it means developing countries creating national climate action plans that double as investment plans, spurring sustainable development, and meeting soaring energy demand with renewables.

The United Nations is mobilizing our entire system to help developing countries to achieve this through our Climate Promise initiative.

Every city, region, industry, financial institution, and company must also be part of the solution.

They must present robust transition plans by COP30 next year in Brazil – at the latest:

Plans aligned with 1.5 degrees, and the recommendations of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero.

Plans that cover emissions across the entire value chain;

That include interim targets and transparent verification processes;

And that steer clear of the dubious carbon offsets that erode public trust while doing little or nothing to help the climate.

We can’t fool nature.  False solutions will backfire.  We need high integrity carbon markets that are credible and with rules consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.   

I also encourage scientists and engineers to focus urgently on carbon dioxide removal and storage – to deal safely and sustainably with final emissions from the heavy industries hardest to clean.  

And I urge governments to support them.

But let me be clear: These technologies are not a silver bullet; they cannot be a substitute for drastic emissions cuts or an excuse to delay fossil fuel phase-out.

But we need to act on every front.

The second area for action is ramping up protection from the climate chaos of today and tomorrow.

It is a disgrace that the most vulnerable are being left stranded, struggling desperately to deal with a climate crisis they did nothing to create.

We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unliveable lands.

We must safeguard people and economies. 

Every person on Earth must be protected by an early warning system by 2027. I urge all partners to boost support for the United Nations Early Warnings for All action plan.

In April, the G7 launched the Adaptation Accelerator Hub.

By COP29, this initiative must be translated into concrete action – to support developing countries in creating adaptation investment plans, and putting them into practice.

And I urge all countries to set out their adaptation and investment needs clearly in their new national climate plans.

But change on the ground depends on money on the table.

For every dollar needed to adapt to extreme weather, only about five cents is available.

As a first step, all developed countries must honour their commitment to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion a year by 2025.

And they must set out a clear plan to close the adaptation finance gap by COP29 in November. 

But we also need more fundamental reform.

That leads me onto my third point: finance.

If money makes the world go round, today’s unequal financial flows are sending us spinning towards disaster.

The global financial system must be part of the climate solution.

Eye-watering debt repayments are drying up funds for climate action.

Extortion-level capital costs are putting renewables virtually out of reach for most developing and emerging economies.

Astoundingly – and despite the renewables boom of recent years – clean energy investments in developing and emerging economies outside of China have been stuck at the same levels since 2015.

Last year, just fifteen per cent of new clean energy investment went to emerging markets and developing economies outside China – countries representing nearly two-thirds of the world’s population.

And Africa was home to less than one percent of last year’s renewables installations, despite its wealth of natural resources and vast renewables potential. 

The International Energy Agency reports that clean energy investments in developing and emerging economies beyond China need to reach up to $1.7 trillion a year by the early 2030s.

In short, we need a massive expansion of affordable public and private finance to fuel ambitious new climate plans and deliver clean, affordable energy for all.

This September’s Summit of the Future is an opportunity to push reform of the international financial architecture and action on debt. I urge countries to take it.

And I urge the G7 and G20 Summits to commit to using their influence within Multilateral Development Banks to make them better, bigger, and bolder. And able to leverage far more private finance at reasonable cost.

Countries must make significant contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund. And ensure that it is open for business by COP29.

And they must come together to secure a strong finance outcome from COP this year – one that builds trust and confidence, catalyses the trillions needed, and generates momentum for reform of the international financial architecture.

But none of this will be enough without new, innovative sources of funds.

It is [high] time to put an effective price on carbon and tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies.

By COP29, we need early movers to go from exploring to implementing solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction – to help fund climate action.

These should be scalable, fair, and easy to collect and administer. 

None of this is charity.

It is enlightened self-interest.

Climate finance is not a favour. It is fundamental element to a liveable future for all.

Dear friends,   Fourth and finally, we must directly confront those in the fossil fuel industry who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress – over decades. 

Billions of dollars have been thrown at distorting the truth, deceiving the public, and sowing doubt.

I thank the academics and the activists, the journalists and the whistleblowers, who have exposed those tactics – often at great personal and professional risk.

I call on leaders in the fossil fuel industry to understand that if you are not in the fast lane to clean energy transformation, you are driving your business into a dead end – and taking us all with you.

Last year, the oil and gas industry invested a measly 2.5 percent of its total capital spending on clean energy.

Doubling down on fossil fuels in the twenty-first century, is like doubling down on horse-shoes and carriage-wheels in the nineteenth.

So, to fossil fuel executives, I say: your massive profits give you the chance to lead the energy transition. Don’t miss it.

Financial institutions are also critical because money talks.

It must be a voice for change.

I urge financial institutions to stop bankrolling fossil fuel destruction and start investing in a global renewables revolution;

To present public, credible and detailed plans to transition [funding] from fossil fuels to clean energy with clear targets for 2025 and 2030;

And to disclose your climate risks – both physical and transitional – to your shareholders and regulators. Ultimately such disclosure should be mandatory.

Many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action – with lobbying, legal threats, and massive ad campaigns. 

They have been aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies – Mad Men – remember the TV series - fuelling the madness.

I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction. 

Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones.

Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet – they’re toxic for your brand.

Your sector is full of creative minds who are already mobilising around this cause. 

They are gravitating towards companies that are fighting for our planet – not trashing it.

I also call on countries to act.

Many governments restrict or prohibit advertising for products that harm human health – like tobacco. 

Some are now doing the same with fossil fuels.

I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies.  

And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising.

We must all deal also with the demand side.  All of us can make a difference, by embracing clean technologies, phasing down fossil fuels in our own lives, and using our power as citizens to push for systemic change. 

In the fight for a liveable future, people everywhere are far ahead of politicians.

Make your voices heard and your choices count. 

We do have a choice. 

Creating tipping points for climate progress – or careening to tipping points for climate disaster. 

No country can solve the climate crisis in isolation.

This is an all-in moment.

The United Nations is all-in – working to build trust, find solutions, and inspire the cooperation our world so desperately needs.

And to young people, to civil society, to cities, regions, businesses and others who have been leading the charge towards a safer, cleaner world, I say: Thank you.

You are on the right side of history.

You speak for the majority.

Keep it up.  

Don’t lose courage. Don’t lose hope.

It is we the Peoples versus the polluters and the profiteers. Together, we can win.  

But it’s time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on.

Tomorrow it will be too late.

Now is the time to mobilise, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver.

This is our moment of truth.

And I thank you.

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