Guterres Warns of “Deadly Negligence” as 1.5°C Goal Slips

The world is committing an act of “deadly negligence,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned leaders at the Brazil climate summit. His stark message in Belem focused on the failure to protect the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) warming limit, a benchmark he called a line against “moral failure.”
Guterres warned that “every fraction of a degree higher” will lead to catastrophic “hunger, displacement and loss.” He placed the blame on world powers “captive to the fossil fuel interests” who are failing to protect the public.
His speech provided a grim context for the summit, which is already facing challenges. The leaders of the top three global polluters—China, the US, and India—were absent from the preliminary gathering, showing a deep lack of consensus.
Against this backdrop, Brazil’s President Lula da Silva is pushing a new financial solution. His “Tropical Forests Forever Facility” is a $5.5 billion fund to pay 74 nations to preserve their rainforests.
The fund, which has a $3 billion pledge from Norway, uses a novel loan-based system to make conservation profitable. It also allocates 20 percent of its funds to Indigenous communities, offering a potential path forward despite the political gloom.