Ladies and gentlemen of the media, good afternoon.Let me begin by thanking our Turkish hosts for their hospitality and warm welcome.  Türkiye is hosting one of the biggest COPs ever – and certainly the largest UN conference of the year.  It is remarkable to feel the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of tens of thousands of people from every corner of the world.   It is yet another reminder of how only the UN has the capacity to bring so many people and entities together to deal with the biggest challenges of our time.This is my final COP as Secretary-General – and this is my final event here in Antalya, so allow me to step back for a moment.For nearly ten years as Secretary-General, I have tried to speak the truth about climate change.Sometimes that truth has been uncomfortable. Sometimes it has been unwelcome.But my responsibility has never been to make the facts more convenient.It has been to tell the truth rooted in the science, and to be especially clear when the truth is hard.Facts are facts.And the fact is climate change does not stay in its lane.It drives hunger and displacement around the world.It wipes out development gains built over decades.It pushes countries deeper into debt.It aggravates competition for land and water.It fuels instability.And, increasingly, it threatens the very existence of communities and countries.For all these reasons, I have never viewed climate action as just one of many other issues.Climate action is central to every aspect of the work of the United Nations.You cannot build peace on a burning planet.You cannot eradicate poverty when climate disasters keep throwing people back into it.You cannot promise young people a better future while destroying the natural systems on which that future depends.And you cannot speak seriously about justice when those who did least to cause this crisis suffer first and worst.And the injustice runs even deeper.Because we know what is happening.We know what is causing it.And we know what we must do.Fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis. There is no credible path to a safe climate without moving away from them.Here in Antalya, I have been crystal clear: We need an accelerated transition away from fossil fuels that is just, orderly and equitable.The climate demands it – but so do economies and security.Fossil-fuel dependence leaves countries exposed to price shocks, geopolitical turmoil and instability. Changing suppliers does not solve that problem. Reducing dependence does.That means massively expanding clean energy, grids, storage, efficiency and clean electrification, while ensuring that clean-energy growth actually drives down fossil-fuel production, use and emissions. That has been my message here.  And the science has delivered another hard truth that makes all this even more imperative.An overshoot of 1.5 degrees is now inevitable.Our responsibility is to keep it as small as possible, for as short a time as possible, and bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees as quickly as we can.That requires immediate and drastic emissions cuts, on the order of 6 per cent every year over the next few years.But on the basis of current commitments of national determined contributions, countries’ climate plans, we are heading for an overshoot as far as the eye can see – with temperatures above 2.5 degrees by the end of the century.That’s a recipe for catastrophe.Even a limited, temporary overshoot will intensify the devastating impacts we are already seeing.That makes climate justice even more urgent.Developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable, will need far greater support foradaptation and for loss and damage.Developed countries must deliver the finance they have promised at recent COPs.And let us be clear about the scale of the gap: even tripling adaptation finance would meet less than 30 per cent of what is needed.But I remain hopeful because I have also seen something extraordinary over these ten years.Renewable energy has moved from the margins to the mainstream.The economics have changed.The technology has advanced.A cleaner, safer and more secure energy future is in our hands.The question is whether we have the courage and speed to reach for it.The distance between what the science demands and what politics delivers remains dangerously wide. The COP process must evolve to help close that gap.  Some interesting initiatives were put on the table here:  The COP30 presidency roadmaps on transitioning away from fossil fuels and on deforestation;The push for electrification that I emphasized must be clean;The global commitment to zero waste;Moving forward on global grid acceleration;And speeding up implementation of our early warnings for all initiative. But the central question is in the hands of member states, particularly the biggest emitters. They must recognize the need for an immediate and drastic reduction in emissions to keep the 1.5 goal still possible by the end of the century.    Negotiations remain essential. What matters most is whether decisions drive faster action and make a difference in people’s lives. And we must confront the disproportionate influence of the fossil fuel lobby.The future of our planet cannot be negotiated on the terms of those profiting from its destruction. All that leads to perhaps the most important truth of all.  No country can protect itself from climate change alone.We share one planet – and whether we like it or not, we share one fate.That is also why the United Nations has strengthened its support for implementation — from early warnings to grids, methane and critical minerals and through our Climate Promise Forward. Climate action must remain central to the work of the United Nations.Because this is about peace.It is about development.It is about human rights and justice.And ultimately, it is about whether international cooperation can still rise to the challenges that no country can solve by itself.I believe it can and it must.So my message as I leave Antalya is simple:Face the facts.  Follow the science.  Choose the future.  And never give up.Thank you.Questions and Answers Question: Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary-General. Kübra Akkoç from TRT World. Sir, many countries from Africa, Asia and Pacific that have contributed the least to climate change have been facing the worst of its impact and the representatives from those countries we've been speaking to here, they've been demanding climate justice, better financing, quicker access to the existing funds. What do you think are the obstacles standing in the way and how confident are you that this COP will be delivering some concrete results on those demands? Secretary-General: You have two kinds of obstacles. The first is that the amounts that have committed until now, even if fully implemented, and that is not guaranteed, will be much less than what is needed for developing countries that face particularly dramatic situations, [to] invest in adaptation and resilience in a way that is sufficient to protect their populations. Obviously, as I mentioned, there was a promise to triple adaptation finance, but that only covers 29 percent of the estimated needs. So, there is a structural injustice in our global financial system for climate. Even the commitments that were made by developed countries are not enough to respond to the needs of developing countries. And then many countries claim that there is difficulty in the access to funds, that processes are sometimes too demanding or too bureaucratic, and I had today the occasion to meet with the leaders of the different climate funds and to ask them to do everything possible in order to, especially for those countries that have limited administration capacity, to be able to have a much more easier access to the funds available, even if, and I repeat, those funds are not enough. There is a structural injustice in our climate situation. Those that pollute more have not created the conditions to gather the resources that are necessary to adequately respond to the needs of those that suffer more. Question: Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary General. I'm from China News Service, and here I know that you stressed the importance of climate justice, so I would like to know your answer to how we put the different countries to make common but differentiated responsibilities into reality, not just to remain a slogan. How developed countries and developing countries can work together to really improve the ecological civilization and make the world better? Thank you. Secretary-General: I think that three things are necessary for that. Developed countries must at least fully implement the commitments that they made and accelerate as much as possible also the reduction of emissions. Emerging economies, like China, must accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, and I recognize the enormous effort that your country is doing in renewables at the present moment. And at the same time, we must make sure that we multiply the funds that are available, and there are ways to multiply them in order to support developing countries. I give you two or three examples of how to multiply the funds that exist.If one country gives one dollar to finance a project, it's one dollar. If the same country puts that dollar in the capital of a multilateral or a national development bank, as the bank can go to the market with that dollar, it transforms itself into eight or ten dollars. When special drawing rights are distributed, if they are distributed to the IMF, one dollar is one dollar. If they are distributed through or redistributed through a multilateral development bank, one dollar is eight dollars or twelve dollars. There are many ways to use the funds available and multiply them, but that means the courage to change policies, the courage to overcome bureaucracies, and the courage to make, for instance, development banks understand that if they increase substantially the number of guarantees, they probably will have less visibility, but with those guarantees, they can mobilize massive amounts of private finance. If instead of giving guarantees, they simply make loans, obviously, the amounts that are mobilized are much less. So, there are ways to multiply the funds available without increasing the budget deficits of developed countries, and I appeal to governments and I appeal to the management of development banks, national and multilateral, to multiply the funds available through the different mechanisms that everybody knows, but sometimes is reluctant to apply. Spokesperson: Thank you. Fiona, please. Question: Thank you. Fiona Harvey from The Guardian. Secretary General, you have been one of the most outspoken leaders on the climate crisis that we've ever had. Do you have any regrets? Secretary-General: Well, first of all, I do not consider to be outspoken. I say simply what is true. What is outspoken is to say something that is not true, and if you ask me if I had any reaction, I have to say that I feel that there is, I just had a meeting with the civil society, there is growingly in the public opinion and growingly in the civil society and growingly in the commitment of several governments and institutions, a conscience that we need to do more, a conscience that we are still on a trajectory to disaster, and a conscience that what I say is not to be outspoken, it's just to tell a very simple and obvious truth. Spokesperson: Thank you. Here at the front, please, Chico. Do we have a microphone here? No, it can be there. Question: Thanks. Hi, Mr. Secretary General. Chico Harlan from The New York Times. Do you have an opinion on the impasse in the IPCC, which has been at loggerheads to determine the timeline for the release of its next report and doesn't even have a budget for the upcoming cycle? Secretary-General: I have an enormous respect for the IPCC. I consider the IPCC has given the world scientific evidence about climate change in a way that has been remarkable. And obviously, the IPCC is an intergovernmental body, which means its members are chosen by governments. And obviously, in the geopolitical situation that we have now, with the divides that exist, I hope that the IPCC will be able to produce the next report as quickly as possible. Spokesperson: Thank you. Mina, there at the back, please. Question: Thank you so much, Mr. Guterres. My name is Mina Daniels. Secretary-General: Just a moment. Which means, ideally, before the next stock take. Question: Okay. Thank you. Secretary-General: Just to clarify what I'm talking about. Question: Mina Daniels is my name. I represent the African Union of Broadcasting. My question would be, sir, the Early Warnings for All initiative terminates in 2027, and up till now, a lot of countries are yet to implement. What happens to the initiative beyond 2027, and how can the media, especially broadcasting, be supported to carry the message to the very last person? Thank you.
Secretary-General: Until now, we gathered $2 billion, and a lot of projects have been put in place, and it's moving quite well, but we need about $6 billion. And so, we need to go beyond 2027, and I hope that whoever will be in charge in the United Nations will maintain the project that is improving dramatically the capacity of many countries to forecast the disasters that eventually might happen because of climate change.