Marshall Islands President Warns at Cop31 That World “Is Over” Without Action
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine told the Cop31 climate summit in Turkey that the world we know is over without urgent action. UN chief António Guterres demanded a windfall tax on fossil fuel profits, and 91 national leaders attended.
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine warned world leaders at the Cop31 climate summit in Turkey on Wednesday, November 11, that the world we know is over without urgent climate action. She spoke on day three of the talks, as dozens of heads of state gathered for the leaders' segment.
Heine said overshooting the 1.5C Paris temperature target would bring waves that eat away shorelines and floods that destroy towns, schools and hospitals. She described coral she saw in July beneath the water off her home island, bright and lush, that had bleached white within months.
"Our response to the threat of overshoot must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over," she said.
Warnings on emissions
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said governments had "not tried hard enough" to curb emissions since the Paris agreement. She cited UN projections: even if every pledge is delivered, the world is heading for 2.6 degrees of warming. On current policies, the figure is 2.8 degrees.
"Overshoot is not a new target," Mottley said. "It is a debt, a debt of heat, borrowed against our children's future."
UN Secretary General António Guterres blamed a deceitful fossil fuel industry, and countries that keep expanding production while claiming to back 1.5C. He called for governments to tax oil and gas companies' windfall profits from the Iran war and use the money to help vulnerable countries recover.
"Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs," he said. "The dinosaurs did not have a lobby – fossil fuels do." The speech is one of the last Guterres will deliver in the job, which he leaves next month.
Hosts under scrutiny
Turkey is co-hosting the conference with Australia, an unusual arrangement. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he wants Cop31 remembered as a turning point and urged countries to act rather than just make promises. On Monday, however, he celebrated the discovery of two new oilfields with an estimated in-situ potential of 135m barrels.
Heine, without naming any producer, said the discovery of new fossil fuel resources is "not something to celebrate but something to fear."
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the conference a "historic moment" for his country and said governments had a "solemn responsibility" to act. He promoted Australia's renewables record but did not mention fossil fuels in his speech. Australia is one of the world's biggest exporters of coal and liquified gas, and he drew criticism for the omission.
According to the UN, 91 national leaders attended the gathering. US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were absent.
