By Abbas Nazil
World leaders at the United Nations General Assembly have issued urgent appeals for stronger climate action, warning that rising seas, failed harvests, and vanishing ecosystems prove the crisis is already a global emergency.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that the world is in the “dawn of a new energy era” where clean energy must replace fossil fuels.
He called for dramatic emissions cuts aligned with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target and demanded a credible global response plan at COP30 in Brazil this November.
Spain’s King Felipe VI highlighted the “triple planetary crisis” of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, urging governments to triple renewable energy capacity and double efficiency.
He warned that hesitation is no longer an option.
Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino Quintero unveiled a “Nature Pledge,” integrating commitments on climate, biodiversity, and land, and pledged restoration of 100,000 hectares of key ecosystems, stressing that nature is the first line of defense.
Comoros President Azali Assoumani described rising seas and cyclones threatening his island nation, calling for equitable and simplified access to climate finance.
He emphasized renewable energy and blue economy opportunities but cautioned that debt and global inaction could derail progress.
Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah tied climate change to worsening droughts and floods and announced her nation’s bid to host Africa’s Green Climate Fund hub while pushing the Namib Declaration against desertification.
Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali underscored that climate and development must align, noting his country’s forest protection and carbon credit sales as proof of nature’s tangible value.
Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine gave a stark warning that promises cannot save sinking atolls.
She urged closing the trillion-dollar climate finance gap and demanded concrete action to phase out fossil fuels and halve emissions within this decade.