UN Secretary-General warns of Climate Target Failure
Published October 28, 2025
Global Heating Target Missed
Humanity has failed to limit global heating to 1.5°C, and an immediate change in course is critical, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. In an interview with The Guardian and Sumauma, Guterres acknowledged it is now “unavoidable” that the Paris Agreement’s target will be overshot, leading to “devastating consequences” as reported by The Guardian.
Guterres urged leaders gathering for the Cop30 climate summit in Belém,Brazil,to recognize that delaying emissions cuts increases the risk of triggering catastrophic “tipping points” in vulnerable ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest,the Arctic,and the world’s oceans.
The Risk of Tipping Points
“Let’s recognize our failure,” Guterres stated. “The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5C in the next few years. And that going above 1.5C has devastating consequences. some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs.”
The priority at Cop30, he emphasized, is to shift direction to minimize the duration and intensity of the overshoot, specifically to avoid triggering irreversible changes in the Amazon. He warned that without a “dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible,” the amazon coudl transition into a savannah, a significant ecological risk.
