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Guterres underlines need to keep 1.5°C goal alive, seeks climate accountability – EnviroNews
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With roughly 100 days remaining in his term as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, delivered a wide-ranging speech that framed the world’s most pressing crises not as isolated problems, but as different expressions of the same underlying struggle over how power is exercised and by whom.
“The greatest power is not the power to dominate. It is the power to build a future that works for everyone,” he said, presenting his annual report of the Organisation.
On climate change, Mr. Guterres said the crisis is the “most profound intergenerational power imbalance”, warning of a near-certain breach of the 1.5°C threshold.
Calling for polluters to “pay” and for developed nations to triple adaptation funding, he pointed out that major oil companies are reaping substantial profits since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while global adaptation finance for developing countries remains a fraction of that sum.
Indeed, he reaffirmed the importance of keeping the 1.5°C goal alive, and made a clear call for those most responsible for the climate crisis to be held accountable:
“Those who polluted the most – and profited the most – must do far more to repair the damage they caused. Polluters must pay. And to the leaders, cities, civil society and citizens working to hold them accountable: you are on the right side of history. Keep going.” said UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.
The call for greater accountability from the fossil fuel industry driving the climate crisis came just a day after campaigners presented 2 million signatures demanding that governments “Make Polluters Pay” to the United Nations.
Throughout his tenure, Guterres has been among the forceful voices calling on the fossil-fuel industry to be made to answer for the damage their products cause, from urging windfall taxes on record oil and gas profits, to endorsing ‘solidarity levies’ to close the international climate finance gap owed to Global South countries, and calling for action to tackle those he called the “godfathers of climate chaos”.
Campaigners say his intervention shows how far that argument has travelled and voice their hope that his successor will carry it forward at a moment when the case has never been more urgent.
Highlighting the gap between record global wealth and the billions still lacking access to food, clean water, education and healthcare, Guterres said inequality is not merely an economic issue but a question of power over opportunity, resources and self-determination.
He reiterated his long-held view that the international financial system leaves developing nations crushed by debt while facing climate disasters they did little to cause.
In this vein, he called for faster debt relief, bolder multilateral development banks and fairer access to Special Drawing Rights created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Devoting particular attention to gender inequality, he announced that the UN has achieved full gender parity across senior leadership, headquarters staff, and professional roles for the first time in its history.
“Equality is not a dream; it is a decision,” he said, citing progress at the UN as proof that entrenched power structures can change.
