It's not every day that a room full of climate campaigners throws a celebration for the head of the United Nations. But guess what: that's exactly what happened at COP31 today!
Few world leaders have been as emphatic about the urgency of the climate crisis. In 2021, Guterres called a landmark UN climate science report a "code red for humanity." At COP27 in 2022, he warned that the world was on a "highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator." And in 2023, as record heat swept the planet, he declared that "the era of global boiling has arrived."
And this year, at his final UN climate talks as Secretary-General, António Guterres was honored by the several civil society organizations, including the Make Polluters Pay International Coalition, for his outstanding service to the climate movement.
"Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs"
In his address to world leaders at COP31 this week, Guterres delivered one of his strongest challenges yet to the fossil fuel industry. "Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs," he said, adding a warning about the industry's grip on politics: "The dinosaurs did not have a lobby. But fossil fuels do."
He also put a number on the injustice. In one quarter alone, the nine largest oil companies will make $95 billion in profits. The Loss and Damage Fund, set up to help vulnerable countries recover from climate disasters, has received around $600 million. That is what those companies earn in about 14 hours.
His answer was simple: governments should tax fossil fuel windfall profits and use the money to help vulnerable countries recover: "Polluters must pay".
A Finance Day full of action
Even before the award ceremony started, campaigners made sure the day didn't go by quietly. The timing was fitting: today was also 'Finance Day' at COP31.
"PAY UP! PAY UP!" chants rang out as activists, campaigners and frontline community members demanded that the Global North deliver the climate finance it owes. Their call was clear: finance that is adequate, predictable and accessible, delivered as public money that doesn't push vulnerable countries deeper into debt.
Later, Kick Big Polluters Out published their new analysis finding that more than 100 polluting corporations and trade associations, from fossil fuels to Big Tech and industrial agriculture, have sent delegations to COP31. Some of those delegations are bigger than those of countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis, like Niger, the Philippines and Nepal.
From words to action
That the words "polluters must pay" are now heard at the highest levels is a testament to years of campaigning by movements around the world. But, as 350.org's Executive Director Anne Jellema put it:
"words must translate into action."
What's needed now are legally binding measures that make those who caused this crisis, and profit from it every day, pay their fair share to the communities being torn apart by floods, fires and droughts.
That pressure is on COP31's leaders right now. Sign our petition to make sure COP31's presidencies deliver what's needed!
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