Spotlight on leaders at UNGA as climate overshoot looms and impacts escalate

New York, United States – The High-Level Event on Climate Action and the Just Transition – a final initiative of outgoing Secretary-General Guterres who has made climate a key element of his legacy – is a crucial moment to consolidate a response to the global climate and energy crises. Ahead of the annual UN climate conference COP31 in Türkiye and the biennial UN biodiversity conference COP17 in Armenia, Greenpeace is calling for governments to accelerate action towards the commitments agreed at COP28 in Dubai to transition away from fossil fuels and to end forest destruction by 2030. Jasper Inventor, Deputy Programme Director, Greenpeace International said: “We are overshooting our climate limits while fossil fuel companies are overflowing with profits. As those most responsible for the climate crisis continue to cash in, this year’s repeated disasters pose a clear question: will politicians finally end the industry’s destruction? Talk is cheap, but life is priceless and our climate stability is disintegrating the longer we delay.” “The answer is not found in discord or division, but urgent collective action for our mutual benefit. Governments must develop and implement national roadmaps that accelerate a fast, fair and funded just transition into renewable energy and ensure we hold fossil fuel polluters and forest destroyers to account for the destruction they’ve caused.” Greenpeace is urging leaders to embark on a robust multilateral response to the escalating climate threat after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned earlier in September the world had failed to limit warming to the Paris Agreement 1.5°C threshold as it outlined an “overshoot, peak and decline” pathway. An Lambrechts, Biodiversity Policy Expert, Greenpeace International said: “The devastating wildfires this year must finally compel us to act with the urgency we need to protect high integrity forests and end forest destruction by 2030, as agreed at COP28 and as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.” “These 2030 targets are not only aspirational, they represent a hard climate and biodiversity boundary. But as forest and ecosystem loss continue on our rapidly heating planet, these wildfires risk becoming a testament to our collective failure to act.” “The Brazil COP30 Presidency’s Forest Roadmap creates the momentum for solutions to be put in place. What’s required is clear government action and deliverables to end and reverse forest destruction by 2030 . A future world of 1.5°C hinges on defending forests now and in the future.” Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead, Greenpeace International said: “We are united with one simple demand: make the wealthiest polluters pay for the damage they cause. People are fed up with paying for a crisis they didn’t create, hit by fossilflation at the pump, the checkout, on insurance and in the climate damage communities are confronted with.” “Fossil fuel profits are soaring off the back of the war on Iran. Permanently increasing taxes on them and shifting fiscal incentives towards renewables should be obvious for any government serious about a just transition and ensuring Global South countries get the public international climate finance they’re owed. The money is there, it just needs to be put into the right hands.” ENDS Photo and video available in the Greenpeace Media Library. Notes Enough is enough: over 2 million petition signatures at UNGA to Make Polluters Pay Contacts: Aaron Gray-Block, Greenpeace International, Climate Politics Communications Manager, aaron.gray-block@greenpeace.org Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org