UN Leader Says Clean Energy Is a 'Moment of Opportunity' in Climate Crisis
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a special address Tuesday that the rising abundance and falling costs of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources present "the dawn of a new energy era" of cheap, clean power and an opportunity to meet the climate challenge.
"The fossil fuel age is flailing and failing," Guterres said, adding that nearly all new power capacity built last year came from renewable sources. He said the economics of renewable energy had passed a tipping point making the clean energy transition "unstoppable."
Guterres called on nations to fully embrace the potential of clean energy as they submit plans to meet greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. He also challenged major tech companies to meet their surging demand for power for data centers with 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.
"By 2030, data centers could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today," Guterres said. "This is not sustainable, unless we make it so."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visits solar panels on the roof of the U.N. Headquarters.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visits solar panels on the roof of the U.N. Headquarters.
Mark Garten/Courtesy of the United Nations
Drawing on statistics from a report released Tuesday by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Guterres lauded the remarkable growth of renewable energy in the decade since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2015.
Solar and wind power, once costly alternatives to electricity generated by burning coal or gas, are now roughly 40 to 50 percent cheaper than fossil fuels, the report found. Grid-scale batteries to store renewable energy—an important means of making the intermittent energy supply from sun and wind match times of energy demand—were scarce in 2015. Since then, the IRENA researchers found that global battery storage capacity has soared from just 2 gigawatts to 90 gigawatts.
Guterres said the abundance of affordable clean energy means that government leaders can be much more aggressive on emissions reductions, "using new national climate plans to go all-out on the energy transition."
Countries that are parties to the Paris Agreement are required to periodically update their emissions reduction plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and new plans are due when the U.N. convenes the COP30 climate talks in November in Brazil.
Guterres said he will convene a high-level event during the U.N. General Assembly in September to highlight NDCs that deliver on global promises to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 and reach global net-zero emissions by 2050.
Former President Joe Biden submitted the U.S. NDC late last year near the end of his term in office, but it was largely a symbolic move. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement upon taking office in January.
Guterres did not reference Trump by name, but his remarks offered an unmistakable rebuke to Trump's energy policies that gut support for renewables in favor fossil fuels.
"The clean energy future is no longer a promise, it's a fact," Guterres said. "No government, no industry, no special interest can stop it."
Trump has dismantled climate-related research at federal agencies, placed additional barriers to solar and wind development and moved to end many regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from autos and the power sector, all while expanding mining and drilling access to public lands.
While Guterres wants Big Tech to commit to renewable energy to power the boom in AI data centers, Trump and his top-level officials used an event last week to urge more use of coal and natural gas to power AI. At a summit on energy and AI in Pittsburgh, Trump's Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking industry executive, downplayed the seriousness of climate change and ridiculed Biden-era support for clean power as the "energy crazy train."
Guterres said such continued investment in fossil fuels will drive up costs and create stranded assets in the long term.
"Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies; they are sabotaging them," he said. He argued that dependence on fossil fuels leaves economies at the mercy of price shocks due to disruption to supplies and geopolitical turmoil, as happened with energy prices in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Let's be clear," he said, "the greatest threat to energy security today is fossil fuels."
The U.N. General Assembly in September coincides with Climate Week NYC, and Newsweek will be there with events on energy and the green transition. Mark your calendars for our events "Pillars of the Green Transition" on Wednesday, September 24, and "Powering Ahead" on Thursday, September 25.
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