UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered a scathing rebuke to world leaders on Thursday for their failure to meet the 1.5°C warming limit, warning that humanity is “on a highway to climate hell” as global temperatures approach dangerous new highs.
Speaking at a summit in Brazil’s Amazonian city of Belem, host of COP30 climate conference, Guterres accused governments and corporations of prioritising profit over the planet.
“Too many corporations are making record profits from climate devastation, with billions spent on lobbying, deceiving the public, and obstructing progress,” he said. “Too many leaders remain captive to these entrenched interests.”
Countries currently spend around 1 trillion US dollars a year subsidising fossil fuels, he added, calling it “madness” in the face of accelerating climate breakdown.
Leaders now face a stark choice, Guterres warned: “We can choose to lead — or be led to ruin.”
Alarming streak of record heat
The COP30 conference marks three decades since the start of international climate negotiations, and scientists say the world is still veering off course.
Despite some progress, global emissions remain far too high to prevent extreme, irreversible warming in the coming decades.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that 2025 is likely to rank as the second- or third-warmest year ever recorded. Through August, global temperatures averaged 1.42°C above preindustrial levels — continuing what WMO chief Celeste Saulo called “an alarming streak of exceptional temperatures.”
Outside the still-unfinished summit venue, a small group of Indigenous activists marched and sang in protest, calling for stronger protections for forests and their communities.
A flotilla of Indigenous leaders and activists travelling down the Amazon Basin to the conference was delayed and expected to arrive next week.
New space for multilateralism
Around 150 heads of state, subnational leaders, and international organisations are scheduled to speak at the two-day leaders’ summit, which will be broadcast globally. But the absence of key emitters — including China, the United States, India, and Russia — has raised questions about the event’s impact. Only the European Union’s leadership is attending among the top five polluters.
The United States, notably, chose not to send any representatives.
Some observers, however, saw opportunity in the absence.
“Without the US present, we can actually see a real multilateral conversation happening,” said Pedro Abramovay, vice president of programs at the Open Society Foundations and a former Brazilian justice minister.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is using the summit to strengthen alliances, holding bilateral talks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Abramovay argued that the meeting could mark “a new space for multilateralism,” one not dominated by major powers.
Brazil hopes to raise at least 10 billion dollars of the 125 billion dollars target for its new Tropical Forest Forever Facility, aimed at generating sustainable conservation funding.
China, Norway, and Germany are expected to pledge contributions, though the UK — which helped design the fund — announced it will not contribute financially.
