HGP Nightly News – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has delivered a sharp warning to governments, including Guyana and fossil fuel producers, declaring that coal, oil and gas remain at the heart of the global climate emergency and must be confronted if the world is to avoid deeper environmental and economic turmoil.
Speaking during a special address at the London Climate Action Week Summit, Guterres said the world is now trapped in what he described as “a tale of two crises”, a climate crisis driving the planet toward dangerous temperature increases, and an energy crisis exposing the vulnerability of economies still tied to fossil fuels.
On the surface, he said, the two crises may appear separate. In reality, he argued, both are being fuelled by the same source.
“On the surface, these crises may seem separate. But they share the same destructive origin: fossil fuels,” Guterres declared.
The UN chief said the answer lies in a “fast, fair transition to clean energy,” coupled with stronger investment in adaptation, resilience and climate justice for vulnerable countries already suffering the effects of global warming.
But a significant portion of his remarks was aimed directly at the oil and gas sector, which he accused of continuing to deepen the climate crisis while reaping enormous profits from global instability.
Guterres warned that despite years of climate negotiations, governments are still failing to move quickly enough to cut emissions from fossil fuel production and consumption. He said the world remains “dangerously off track,” noting that current national climate plans would reduce global emissions by only 10 per cent by 2035, far below the 60 per cent cut scientists say is needed over that same period to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius target alive.
He argued that any credible response must include aggressive cuts in carbon dioxide from coal, oil and gas, while also targeting methane, a greenhouse gas he described as especially urgent because of its short-term impact on warming.
“Methane is responsible for around one-third of global warming. It is some 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide,” Guterres said.
In one of the clearest messages of the speech, he launched a new push for action on methane emissions, placing special focus on the fossil fuel industry and warning that voluntary efforts are no longer enough.
The Secretary-General said the oil and gas sector presents one of the biggest opportunities for immediate emissions cuts because much of the technology already exists to reduce methane leaks and waste.
Citing findings from the International Energy Agency, Guterres said roughly 70 per cent of methane emissions from oil and gas operations can be eliminated using existing technology, much of it at low or no cost.
Yet, he noted, the industry continues to waste enormous volumes of gas.
“Some 167 billion cubic metres of gas was flared into the sky in 2025 alone, as much as Africa consumes in a year,” he said.
Guterres used that statistic to call for a new global standard for the oil and gas industry: “near-zero methane emissions across the value chain.”
He also urged governments to move beyond voluntary commitments and begin imposing firmer rules on producers and consumers alike.
“The world phased out leaded gasoline. We eliminated ozone-depleting chemicals. So methane pollution must be next,” he said.
Beyond methane, Guterres also took aim at calls for more oil fields, gas expansion and coal development, saying the world cannot solve one crisis by deepening the very system that created it.
“Around the globe, powerful voices continue to insist on more coal mines, more oil fields, more gas expansion,” he said. “These are the same voices telling the world to double down on a model that is driving both the climate crisis and the energy crisis.”
He warned that new fossil fuel infrastructure risks becoming stranded long before the end of its economic life as the world shifts toward cleaner energy, and said the fallout would extend beyond individual projects to entire economies that fail to adapt.
Guterres also called on governments to tax the extraordinary profits being earned by fossil fuel giants during periods of war, instability and market disruption.
“These are windfall gains born of pain, of instability, hardship and dependence,” he said. “I urge governments to tax them.”
According to Guterres, the proceeds from such taxes should be directed toward helping vulnerable households cope with rising costs and speeding up the transition to cleaner and more affordable energy.
At the same time, he said governments must stop allowing structural bottlenecks to slow renewable energy projects, pointing to weak transmission networks, outdated distribution systems and insufficient storage capacity as major obstacles to the clean energy transition.
Throughout the address, Guterres framed the issue not simply as an environmental debate, but as a fight over economic survival, energy security and global justice.
For countries still heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, he argued, the lesson of repeated global shocks is now impossible to ignore.
“Energy independence cannot be built on fossil fuel dependence,” he said, describing renewable energy as the true foundation of long-term security and resilience.
The Secretary-General’s message was blunt: the age of treating oil and gas as the default answer to global energy demand must end. In its place, he said, governments must act with urgency to cut emissions, curb methane, stop wasteful flaring and accelerate the shift away from the fuels that are heating the planet.
