{"disclaimer":"Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations.","url":"https://transcripts.un.org/en/asset/k1f/k1fk1g2no0","llms":{"note":"Plain-text sibling of this page, compact for LLM context. For the full API guide (search, listing, URL grammar) see /llms.txt.","textUrl":"/en/asset/k1f/k1fk1g2no0.txt","guide":"/llms.txt"},"video":{"id":"k1f/k1fk1g2no0","kaltura_id":"1_fk1g2no0","title":"A Moment of Opportunity: Special Address on Climate Action by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres","clean_title":"A Moment of Opportunity: Special Address on Climate Action by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres","url":"https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1f/k1fk1g2no0","date":"2025-07-22T00:00:00.000Z","scheduled_time":"2025-07-22T13:00:00.000Z","status":"finished","duration":"00:44:17","category":"Meetings & Events","body":null,"event_code":null,"event_type":null,"session_number":null,"pv_symbol":null,"pv_part":null,"slug":"asset/k1f/k1fk1g2no0"},"metadata":{"summary":"The UN Secretary-General delivers a special address, outlining the economic opportunity of the energy transition.","description":"\"Excellencies,\nLadies and gentlemen,\nFriends joining us from around the world,\nThe headlines are dominated by a world in trouble.\nBy conflict and climate chaos.\nBy rising human suffering.\nBy growing geo-political divides.\nBut amidst the turmoil, another story is being written.\nAnd its implications will be profound.\nThroughout history, energy has shaped the destiny of humankind – from mastering\nfire, to harnessing steam, to splitting the atom.\nNow, we are on the cusp of a new era.\nFossil fuels are running out of road.\nThe sun is rising on a clean energy age.\nJust follow the money.\n$2 trillion went into clean energy last year – that's $800 billion more than fossil fuels, and up almost 70% in ten years.\nAnd new data released today from the International Renewable Energy Agency shows that solar – not so long ago four times the cost of fossil fuels – is now 41% cheaper.\nOffshore wind – 53%.\nAnd over 90% of new renewables worldwide produced electricity for less than the cheapest new fossil fuel alternative.\nThis is not just a shift in power. This is a shift in possibility.\nYes, in repairing our relationship with the climate.\nAlready, the carbon emissions saved by solar and wind globally are almost equivalent to what the whole European Union produces in a year.\nBut this transformation is fundamentally about energy security and people's security.\nIt's about smart economics.\nDecent jobs, public health, advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.\nAnd delivering clean and affordable energy to everyone, everywhere.\nToday, we are releasing a special report with the support of UN agencies and partners -- the International Energy Agency, the IMF, IRENA, the OECD and the World Bank.\nThe report shows how far we have come in the decade since the Paris Agreement sparked a clean energy revolution. And it highlights the vast benefits – and actions needed – to accelerate a just transition globally.\nRenewables already nearly match fossil fuels in global installed power capacity.\nAnd that's just the beginning.\nLast year, almost all the new power capacity built came from renewables.\nAnd every continent on Earth added more renewables capacity than fossil fuels.\nThe clean energy future is no longer a promise. It's a fact.\nNo government. No industry. No special interest can stop it.\nOf course, the fossil fuel lobby of some fossil fuel companies will try – and we know the lengths to which they will go.\nBut I have never been more confident that they will fail – because we have passed the point of no return.\nFor three powerful reasons.\nFirst, market economics.\nFor decades, emissions and economic growth rose together.\nNo more.\nIn many advanced economies, emissions have peaked, but growth continues.\nIn 2023 alone, clean energy sectors drove 10% of global GDP growth.\nIn India, 5%. The United States, 6%. China – a leader in the energy transition – 20%.\nAnd in the European Union, nearly 33%.\nAnd clean energy sector jobs now outnumber fossil fuel jobs – employing almost 35 million people worldwide.\nEven Texas – the heart of the American fossil fuel industry – now leads the US in renewables.\nWhy? Because it makes economic sense.\nAnd yet fossil fuels still enjoy a 9 to 1 advantage in consumption subsidies globally – a clear market distortion.\nAdd to that the unaccounted costs of climate damages on people and planet – and the distortion is even greater.\nCountries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies – they are sabotaging them.\nDriving up costs.\nUndermining competitiveness.\nLocking-in stranded assets.\nAnd missing the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century.\nExcellencies,\nDear friends,\nSecond -- renewables are here to stay because they are the foundation of energy security and sovereignty.\nLet's be clear: The greatest threat to energy security today is in fossil fuels.\nThey leave economies and people at the mercy of price shocks, supply disruptions, and geopolitical turmoil.\nJust look at Russia's invasion of Ukraine.\nA war in Europe led to a global energy crisis.\nOil and gas prices soared.\nElectricity and food bills followed.\n\nIn 2022 average households around the world saw energy costs jump 20%.\nModern and competitive economies need stable, affordable energy. Renewables offer both.\nThere are no price spikes for sunlight.\nNo embargoes on wind.\nRenewables can put power – literally and figuratively – in the hands of people and governments.\nAnd almost every nation has enough sun, wind, or water to become energy self-sufficient.\nRenewables mean real energy security. Real energy sovereignty. And real freedom from fossil-fuel volatility.\nDear friends,\nThe third and final reason why there is no going back on renewables: Easy access.\nYou can't build a coal plant in someone's backyard.\nBut you can deliver solar panels to the most remote village on earth.\nSolar and wind can be deployed faster, cheaper and more flexibly than fossil fuels ever could.\nAnd while nuclear will be part of the global energy mix, it can never fill the access gaps.\nAll of this is a game-changer for the hundreds of millions of people still living without electricity – most of them in Africa, a continent bursting with renewable potential.\nBy 2040, Africa could generate 10 times more electricity than it needs – entirely from renewables.\nWe are already seeing small-scale and off-grid renewable technologies lighting homes, and powering schools and businesses in remote areas.\nAnd in places like Pakistan for example, people-power is fueling a solar surge – consumers are driving the clean energy boom.\nExcellencies,\nDear friends,\nThe energy transition is unstoppable.\nBut the transition is not yet fast enough or fair enough.\nOECD countries and China account for 80% of renewable power capacity installed worldwide.\nBrazil and India make up nearly 10%.\nAfrica -- just 1.5%.\nMeanwhile, the climate crisis is laying waste to lives and livelihoods.\nClimate disasters in small island states have wiped out over 100% of GDP.\nIn the United States, they are pushing insurance premiums through the roof.\nAnd the 1.5 degree limit is in unprecedented peril.\nTo keep it within reach, we must drastically speed up the reduction of emissions – and the reach of the clean energy transition.\nWith manufacturing capacity racing, prices plummeting, and COP30 fast approaching…\nThis is our moment of opportunity.\nWe must seize it.\nWe can do so by taking action in six opportunity areas.\nFirst – by using new national climate plans to go all-out on the energy transition.\nToo often, governments send mixed messages:\nBold renewable targets on one day. New fossil fuel subsidies and expansions the next.\nThe next national climate plans, or NDCs, are due in a matter of months.\nThey must bring clarity and certainty.\nG20 countries must lead. They produce 80% of global emissions.\nThe principle of common but differentiated responsibilities must apply but every country must do more.\nAhead of COP30 in Brazil this November, they must submit new plans.\nI invite leaders to present their new NDCs at an event I will host in September, during General Assembly High-level week. These must:\nCover all emissions, across the entire economy.\nAlign with the 1.5 degree limit.\nIntegrate energy, climate and sustainable development priorities into one coherent vision.\nAnd deliver on global promises:\nTo double energy efficiency and triple renewables capacity by 2030.\nAnd to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.\nThese plans must be backed by long-term roadmaps for a just transition to net-zero energy systems – in line with global net-zero by 2050.\nAnd they must be underpinned by policies that show that the clean energy future is not just inevitable – but investable.\nPolicies that create clear regulations and a pipeline of projects.\nThat enhance public-private partnerships – unlocking capital and innovation.\nThat put a meaningful price on carbon.\nAnd that end subsidies and international public finance for fossil fuels – as promised.\nSecond, this is our moment of opportunity to build the energy systems of the 21st century.\nThe technology is moving ahead.\nIn just fifteen years, the cost of battery storage systems for electricity grids has dropped over 90%.\nBut here's the problem.\nInvestments in the right infrastructure are not keeping up.\nFor every dollar invested in renewable power, just 60 cents go to grids and storage.\nThat ratio should be one-to-one.\nWe are building renewable power – but not connecting it fast enough.\nThere's three times more renewable energy waiting to be plugged into grids than was added last year.\nAnd fossil fuels still dominate the global total energy mix.\nWe must act now and invest in the backbone of a clean energy future:\nIn modern, flexible and digital grids – including regional integration.\nIn a massive scale-up of energy storage.\nIn charging networks – to power the electric vehicle revolution.\nOn the other hand we need energy efficiency but also electrification -- across buildings, transport and industry.\nThis is how we unlock the full promise of renewables – and build energy systems that are clean, secure and fit for the future.\nThird, this is our moment of opportunity to meet the world's surging energy demand sustainably.\nMore people are plugging in.\nMore cities are heating up – with soaring demand for cooling.\nAnd more technologies – from AI to digital finance – are devouring electricity.\nGovernments must aim to meet all new electricity demand with renewables.\nAI can boost efficiency, innovation, and resilience in energy systems. And we must take profit in it.\nBut it is also energy-hungry.\nA typical AI data-center eats-up as much electricity as 100,000 homes.\nThe largest ones will soon use twenty times that.\nBy 2030, data centres could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today.\nThis is not sustainable – unless we make it so.\nAnd the technology sector must be out front.\nToday I call on every major tech firm to power all data centres with 100% renewables by 2030.\nAnd – along with other industries – they must use water sustainably in cooling systems.\nThe future is being built in the cloud.\nIt must be powered by the sun, the wind, and the promise of a better world.\nExcellencies\nDear friends,\nFourth, this is the moment of opportunity for a just energy transition.\nThe clean energy that we must deliver must also deliver equity, dignity and opportunity for all.\nThat means governments leading a just transition.\nWith support, education and training – for fossil fuel workers, young people, women, Indigenous Peoples and others – so that they can thrive in the new energy economy.\nWith stronger social protection – so no one is left behind.\nAnd with international cooperation to help low-income countries that are highly-dependent on fossil fuels and struggling to make the shift.\nBut justice doesn't stop here.\nThe critical minerals that power the clean energy revolution are often found in countries that have long been exploited.\nAnd today, we see history repeating.\nCommunities mistreated.\nRights trampled.\nEnvironments trashed.\nNations stuck at the bottom of value chains – while others reap rewards.\nAnd extractive models digging deeper holes of inequality and harm.\nThis must end.\nDeveloping countries can play a major role in diversifying sources of supply.\nThe UN Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals has shown the way forward – with a path grounded in human rights, justice and equity.\nToday, I call on governments, businesses and civil society to work with us to deliver its recommendations.\nLet's build a future that is not only green – but just.\nNot only fast – but fair.\nNot only transformative – but inclusive.\nFifth, we have a moment of opportunity to use trade and investment to supercharge the energy transition.\nClean energy needs more than ambition.\nIt needs access – to technologies, materials, and manufacturing.\nBut these are concentrated in just a few countries.\nAnd global trade is fragmenting.\nTrade policy must support climate policy.\nCountries committed to the new energy era must come together to ensure that trade and investment drive it forward.\nBy building diverse, secure, and resilient supply chains.\nBy cutting tariffs on clean energy goods.\nBy unlocking investment and trade – including through South-South cooperation.\nAnd by modernizing outdated investment treaties – starting with Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions.\nToday, fossil fuel interests are weaponizing these provisions to delay the transition, particularly in several developing countries.\nReform is urgent.\nThe race for the new must not be a race for the few.\nIt must be a relay – shared, inclusive and resilient.\nLet's make trade a tool for transformation.\nSixth and finally, this is our moment of opportunity to unleash the full force of finance – driving investment to markets with massive potential.\nDespite soaring demand and vast renewables potential -- developing countries are being locked out of the energy transition.\nAfrica is home to 60% of the world's best solar resources. But it received just 2% of global clean energy investment last year.\nZoom out, and the picture is just as stark.\nIn the last decade, only one in every five clean energy dollars went to emerging and developing countries outside China.\nTo keep the 1.5 degree limit alive -- and deliver universal energy access – annual clean energy investment in those countries must rise more than fivefold by 2030.\nThat demands bold national policies. And concrete international action to:\nReform the global financial architecture.\nDrastically increase the lending capacity of multilateral development banks -- making them bigger, bolder, and better able to leverage massive amounts of private finance at reasonable costs;\nAnd take effective action on debt relief – and scale up proven tools like debt for climate swaps.\nToday, developing countries pay outlandish sums for both debt and equity financing – in part because of outdated risk models, bias and broken assumptions that boost the cost of capital.\nCredit ratings agencies and investors must modernize.\n\nWe need a new approach to risk that reflects:\nThe promise of clean energy.\nThe rising cost of climate chaos.\nAnd the danger of stranded fossil fuel assets.\nI urge parties to unite to solve the complex challenges facing some developing countries in the energy transition – such as early retirement of coal plants.\nExcellencies,\nDear friends,\nThe fossil fuel age is flailing and failing.\nWe are in the dawn of a new energy era.\nAn era where cheap, clean, abundant energy powers a world rich in economic opportunity.\nWhere nations have the security of energy autonomy.\nAnd the gift of power is a gift for all.\nThat world is within reach.\nBut it won't happen on its own.\nNot fast enough.\nNot fair enough.\nIt is up to us.\nWe have the tools to power the future for humanity.\nLet's make the most of them.\nThis is our moment of opportunity.\nAnd I Thank you\".","categories":["Meetings & Events"],"geographic_subject":[],"subject_topical":["CLIMATE CHANGE","ENERGY","SUSTAINABLE ENERGY","RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES","2030 AGENDA","SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS"],"corporate_name":[],"speaker_affiliation":["SECRETARIAT"],"related_documents":[{"title":"\"A Moment of Opportunity\" webpage","url":"https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/moment-opportunity-2025"},{"title":"Climate Action website","url":"https://www.un.org/en/climatechange"},{"title":"Full remarks [as delivered]","url":"https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2025-07-22/secretary-generals-remarks-climate-action-moment-of-opportunity-supercharging-the-clean-energy-age-delivered-scroll-down-for-all-french"}]},"transcript":null,"message":"No transcript available"}