World on Brink of 1.5°C “Moral Failure,” UN Chief Warns at Brazil Summit

The world is dangerously close to a “moral failure,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a blistering speech at the Brazil climate summit. He cautioned that allowing global warming to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) benchmark from the 2015 Paris Agreement would be an act of “deadly negligence.”
Speaking to leaders in the Amazonian city of Belem, Guterres was unflinching. He warned that “even a temporary overshoot” of the 1.5-degree limit would unleash “dramatic consequences.” He stressed that “every fraction of a degree higher means more hunger, displacement and loss,” painting a grim picture of the planet’s future without immediate action.
His urgent plea for action was set against a backdrop of global division. The leaders of the world’s top three polluters—the United States, China, and India—were notably absent from the preliminary gathering. Guterres criticized this lack of unity, accusing some world powers of “remaining captive to the fossil fuel interests” instead of protecting the public.
In contrast to the political inaction, host President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is pushing for a concrete financial solution. He has proposed the “Tropical Forests Forever Facility,” a plan to pay 74 developing nations to preserve their rainforests, which are essential carbon sinks.
The fund, which has already secured $5.5 billion in pledges, including $3 billion from Norway, uses a novel loan-based model. It also mandates that 20 percent of the funds go directly to Indigenous peoples, the long-time guardians of these vital lands.