UN Climate Chief Says Energy Transition ‘Unstoppable’ Despite US Exit From Paris Accord, Urges Countries to Deliver on Climate Finance at COP30

“A country may step back – but others are already stepping into their place to seize that opportunity,” Simon Stiell said on Thursday, referring to the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

—

The transition to clean energy is “unstoppable” as countries recognize the “colossal” benefits it presents, the UN climate chief said in his first speech of the year.

Speaking at a university in Brazil on Thursday, Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said countries were “already stepping into their place to “reap the massive rewards” of transitioning to cleaner forms of energy, such as new jobs, reduced pollution and associated health costs, economic growth, and more affordable energy.

“A country may step back – but others are already stepping into their place to seize that opportunity,” he said, adding that the energy transition is “unstoppable.”

Stiell was referring to the US, which President Donald Trump last month withdrew from the Paris climate deal for the second time, calling the agreement an “unfair, one-sided … rip-off.” The move places the country – the world’s second largest emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases – alongside Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside the accord.

In November, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that progress on the Paris Agreement could suffer a major setback if the US were to leave the international treaty for a second time.

‘Get Finance Right’

On Thursday, Stiell outlined his top policy priorities for this year and for COP30, the UN annual climate summit, set to take place in November in Belem, Brazil.

Last year, countries agreed on a $300-billion global climate finance deal, which Stiell called “an important step forward.” But Global South negotiators described the deal as a “joke” and “insultingly low.” They had been pushing for “trillions, not billions” throughout the summit, after experts put the amount needed to deal with the consequences of climate change at some $1.3 trillion annually.

A coalition of least developed countries and small island developing states at COP29 also secured language in the final text that establishes a process to boost climate finance towards $1.3 trillion. That effort will be part of a “Baku to Belem Roadmap to $1.3 trillion,” which will look for additional resources to “support support low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development pathways.”

Stiell said the world has mobilized around $2 trillion in climate finance from “nearly nothing” over the last decade. “Imagine if we could get finance right; as a start, deliver on the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3 trillion dollars – so that every nation can begin reaching its full potential,” he said.

10 Years

This year marks a decade since 195 countries signed the Paris accord, one of the most significant climate agreements to strengthen the global response to the growing threat of climate change.

Signatories committed to limiting global warming to below 1.5C or “well below 2C” above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Beyond this limit, experts warn that critical tipping points will be breached, leading to devastating and potentially irreversible consequences for several vital Earth systems that sustain a hospitable planet.

Stiell on Thursday praised the work of the UN in driving global climate cooperation, saying the world would otherwise be headed towards up to 5C of heating, “a death sentence for humanity as we know it.” He said that while the world has become more divided in the past decade, the climate negotiation process has “managed to buck the trend.”

But progress does not mean the world is on track with the Paris goal. Far from it, the UN last year warned we are on track for a temperature increase of 2.6-3.1C over the course of this century.

2024 was the hottest year on record, and the first one to surpass 1.5C. While recent developments do not signal a permanent breach of the critical limit, which scientists say is measured over decades, it sends a clear warning to humanity that we are approaching the point of no return much faster than expected.

Scientists are not optimistic either. A survey of 380 IPCC scientists conducted by the Guardian last May revealed that 77% of them believe humanity is headed for at least 2.5C of warming.

And on Monday, renowned climatologist James Hansen said even the 2C target “is dead” after his latest paper concluded that Earth’s climate is more sensitive to rising greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought. The former top NASA climate scientist famously announced to the US Congress in 1988 that global warming was underway.⁣

Featured image: UNclimatechange/Flickr.