UN SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES HONOURED BY MAKE POLLUTERS PAY COALITION FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE CLIMATE MOVEMENT

At COP31, climate justice organisations recognise Guterres for his outspoken challenge to the fossil fuel industry and his calls for polluters to pay for the climate crisis.

ANTALYA, TÜRKİYE: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been honoured by the Make Polluters Pay International Coalition for his outstanding contribution to the global climate movement and his leadership in challenging world leaders to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the climate crisis.

Speaking at the last UN climate talks in which he will participate as UNSG, the award was presented at COP31 in Antalya by representatives of the global climate justice movement, including Harjeet Singh of Fill the Fund, Meryne Warah of GreenFaith, David Hillman and Louise Hutchins, Convenors of the Make Polluters Pay International Coalition.

The award recognises Guterres’s consistent and increasingly forceful calls for governments to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, hold the industry accountable and make those responsible for climate destruction pay for the damage they have caused.

In his address to world leaders at COP31 this week, Guterres delivered one of his strongest challenges yet to the fossil fuel industry, declaring: “Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs.” He warned that the industry’s lobbying power was deliberately holding back progress, saying: “The dinosaurs did not have a lobby. But fossil fuels do.”

He also called for governments to tax fossil fuel windfall profits to help vulnerable countries recover from climate damage, concluding: “Polluters must pay.”

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said:

“Those who profit most from fossil fuels must help foot the bill for the damage they have caused. In the last quarter alone, the nine largest oil companies pocketed $95 billion in profits. Meanwhile, the Loss and Damage Fund has received around $600 million. That is what these companies made in about 14 hours. It’s time for governments to tax these windfall profits, and use them to help vulnerable countries recover. Polluters must pay.”

Louise Hutchins, Convenor of the Make Polluters Pay International Coalition, said:

“Today we are recognising António Guterres for the leadership he has shown in using the authority of the United Nations to confront one of the most powerful industries in the world.

“At a time when fossil fuel companies continue to make enormous profits while communities face escalating climate devastation, he has been prepared to speak plainly about the responsibility of the industry and the need to make polluters pay.

“His words have helped strengthen the demands of a global movement that has spent years fighting to expose the power of the fossil fuel industry, challenge its influence over governments and secure justice for the people bearing the greatest costs of the climate crisis. We are proud to honour him.”

Harjeet Singh, Global Convenor, Fill the Fund campaign, said:

“When we look around the world today, we see the devastating reality of the climate crisis unfolding before our eyes, homes destroyed by floods, communities ravaged by droughts and wildfires, livelihoods lost and lives cut short. And yet, those who have contributed least to this crisis are paying the highest price, while the fossil fuel companies most responsible continue to accumulate enormous wealth. This is the injustice at the heart of the climate crisis.

“Climate justice demands that this is turned around. Those who have profited from polluting our planet must pay for the damage they have caused. Guterres has been an important voice in challenging this injustice. His call for fossil fuel windfall profits to help fund loss and damage is a powerful recognition that the money exists; what is missing is the political will to make those responsible pay.

“This award celebrates a leader who has helped bring climate justice, accountability and the polluter-pays principle to the centre of the global debate. At a time when the need for action has never been greater, we hope whoever succeeds him will strengthen the movement demanding a fairer world.”

Meryne Warah, Global Program Director, GreenFaith, said:

“Climate justice is about defending life, dignity and the future of our communities. Across the world, people of faith and frontline communities are calling for an end to the destruction caused by fossil fuels and for those who have profited from this crisis to take responsibility.

“Guterres has used his platform to speak truth to power, challenge the influence of the fossil fuel industry and remind governments that climate action must be rooted in justice. We are delighted to recognise his contribution to this global struggle.”

David Hillman, Director of Stamp Out Poverty, said:

“The principle that polluters must pay is both simple and essential to delivering climate justice. The scale of the injustice is laid bare by the numbers. As Guterres highlighted at COP31, the world’s nine largest oil companies earned 95 billion USD in profits in a single quarter, while the global Loss and Damage Fund has secured only about 600 million USD. million. Those companies made in just 14 hours what the Fund has available to help countries recover from climate devastation.

“This is indefensible. The countries and communities least responsible for the climate crisis are struggling to pay for the destruction it causes, while the companies driving that crisis continue to make extraordinary profits. There is no shortage of wealth in the fossil fuel industry; what is missing is the political will to make polluters contribute their fair share.

Anne Jellema, Executive Director of 350.org

“ Antonio Guterres has courageously exposed the injustice of a system that allows Big Oil to pollute for free. This is testament to years of tireless campaigning by civil society movements around the world, who have kept pushing, challenging, and demanding accountability until the words ‘polluters must pay’ are now being heard at the highest levels. But words must translate into action.

Now we need legally binding measures to make those who caused this crisis and profit from it every day pay their fair share to help the communities being ripped apart by floods, fires and droughts.”

Jasper Inventor, COP31 Head of Delegation, Greenpeace International: “COP after COP, António Guterres has stood before world leaders to deliver the unvarnished truth - not just on the scale of the climate emergency, but on how to solve it. If governments had listened to him from the start, we would have avoided years of devastating delay. At his final COP in Antalya, he once again refused to soften his message, warning that fossil fuel giants are ‘making a killing while killing our planet’ and calling on the world to fight harder against the interests of the few. The tribute that matters now is for leaders to stop applauding his speeches and start acting on them, by making polluters pay and phasing out fossil fuels.”

Oxfam

Julie-Anne Richards, Strategic Campaign Lead, Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance Australia

“Secretary-General Guterres’ moral clarity on the urgent need for climate action and accountability cuts through the complex debates at COP31 to reveal the heart of the matter: to alleviate the suffering from worsening floods, bushfires, and heatwaves, we must accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and make climate-wrecking corporations pay for their damage.

While it is disappointing that Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ignored this call to action at the Leaders' Summit, Guterres’ words remain the North Star for global leaders. It’s not too late for Minister Chris Bowen, as President of COP31 Negotiations, to work with countries to deliver a mechanism that makes big polluters pay.”

ENDS