UN Secretary‑General António Guterres has declared that the world has “passed the point of no return” on the shift to renewables and has implored governments to file sweeping new climate plans before November’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil.

In a special address at UN headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres cited surging clean energy investment and plunging solar and wind costs that now outcompete fossil fuels.

“The energy transition is unstoppable, but the transition is not yet fast enough or fair enough. Just follow the money,” Mr. Guterres said, noting that $2tr flowed into clean energy last year, $800 bn more than fossil fuels and up almost 70 per cent in a decade.

Underling the argument, he added that, from International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) figures, solar energy now 41 per cent cheaper and offshore wind 53 per cent cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives, as well as granting energy security, and what he called “real energy sovereignty”.

He urged countries to lock ambition into the next round of national climate plans, or NDCs, due within months. Mr. Guterres called on the G20 countries, which are responsible for 80 per cent of emissions, to submit new plans aligned with the 1.5C limit and present them at a high‑level event in September. Targets, he added, must “double energy efficiency and triple renewables capacity by 2030” while accelerating “the transition away from fossil fuels”.

---