United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has declared that the world has failed to meet the Paris Agreement’s central goal of limiting global heating to 1.5°C, warning that surpassing this threshold is now “inevitable” and will bring “devastating consequences” for humanity and the planet.

In an interview with The Guardian ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, Guterres said the international community must “recognize our failure” and act urgently to reduce the duration and severity of the temperature overshoot.

“The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5°C in the next few years,” Guterres said. “And that going above 1.5°C has devastating consequences.”

The UN chief cautioned that the world risks crossing irreversible environmental tipping points — including the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, melting of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, and mass coral reef die-offs — if emissions are not drastically reduced soon.

“It is absolutely indispensable to change course,” he urged. “We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible.”

Despite repeated international pledges, Guterres said that government actions remain far below what is required. Only 62 of the 197 signatories to the Paris Agreement have submitted updated national climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Current pledges would cut global emissions by just 10% — a fraction of the 60% reduction needed to stay within the 1.5°C target.

“Overshooting is now inevitable,” Guterres said bluntly.

Guterres also called for fairer representation at UN climate summits, arguing that Indigenous and civil society voices must outweigh those of corporate lobbyists.

“We all know what the lobbyists want — to increase their profits, with the price being paid by humankind,” he said.

He praised Indigenous peoples as “the best guardians of nature” and urged that greater resources and decision-making power be given to those protecting forests and biodiversity.

Guterres reiterated that a transition away from fossil fuels is both a moral and economic necessity, as renewable energy technologies rapidly gain momentum worldwide.

“We are seeing a renewables revolution,” he said. “There will be no way for humankind to use all the oil and gas already discovered.”

The UN chief also confirmed that he plans to raise concerns about Brazil’s new oil exploration projects near the Amazon River with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during COP30.

Brazil’s proposed Tropical Forests Forever Facility — which seeks to raise $125 billion to preserve standing forests — will allocate 20% of its funds directly to Indigenous communities. Guterres emphasized that protecting these territories is crucial since they host some of the world’s most effective carbon sinks.

He also warned against dismantling international climate cooperation mechanisms like the COP framework, saying that doing so would “lead to chaos and deepen inequality.”

“The alternative is a free-for-all,” Guterres said. “There will always be a group of rich people and rich companies that will be able to protect themselves as the planet is being progressively destroyed.”

As his term as Secretary-General nears its end next year, Guterres reflected on his tenure with humility and resolve.

“I will never give up on my commitment to climate action, to biodiversity, to the protection of nature,” he said. “Our most precious possession is our mother nature.” (ILKHA)