Not containing global warming is equivalent to “moral failure and deadly negligence”he added.
Every year that it gets warmer, he said, “will hit economies, deepen inequalities and have a greater impact on developing countries, even if they are the ones that contributed the least to causing it.”
“After decades of denial and delay, science now tells us that a temporary overshoot beyond the 1.5°C limit – beginning no later than the early 2030s – is inevitable,” Guterres continued.
Paradigm shift
“We need a fundamental paradigm shift to limit the magnitude and duration of this excess and reduce it quickly.. Even a temporary excess will unleash much greater destruction and costs for each nation.”
Echoing his comments, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) chief Celeste Saulo said greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest level in 800,000 years.
“From January to August of this year, the Earth’s average temperature was approximately 1.42°C above pre-industrial levels, and the oceans also reached record levels, which is Inflicting lasting damage to marine ecosystems and economies.“, said.
2025 on track to be among the hottest in history
The planet’s relentless warming trend has shown no signs of slowing and 2025 is projected to be the second or third warmest year on record, according to the Status of the 2025 Global Climate Update issued by the WMO on Thursday.
It warns that the 11-year period between 2015 and 2025 will be the warmest period since records began 176 years ago.
“This unprecedented streak of high temperatures, combined with last year’s record rise in greenhouse gas levels, makes it clear that it will be virtually impossible to limit global warming to 1.5°C in the coming years without temporarily overshooting this target,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
Reversal is still possible
She highlighted that Science still shows that it is possible to reduce temperatures below that threshold by the end of the century..
The report paints a grim picture of worsening climate impacts. Arctic sea ice reached its lowest winter maximum on record, while Antarctic sea ice remained well below average.
Global sea level rise, almost twice as fast as in the 1990s, continued to accelerate due to warming oceans and melting ice.
Extreme weather events – from devastating floods and storms to prolonged heat waves and wildfires – have disrupted food systems, displaced communities, and hampered economic development in multiple regions.
‘Red line for humanity’
The Secretary-General told COP30 that the 1.5°C limit remains “a red line for humanity”, calling for rapid emissions cuts, an accelerated phase-out of fossil fuels and greater protection of forests and oceans.
Guterres highlighted the growing momentum of the clean energy revolution, noting that investments in renewable energy now exceed those in fossil fuels by $800 billion. “Clean energy is gaining in price, performance and potential,” he said, “but what is still missing is political courage.”
Also addressing delegates, Marinez Scherer, COP30 Special Envoy for the Ocean, urged nations to join efforts for both forests and oceans, calling them “a living system” that shapes the planet’s climate.
“The science is clear: we cannot solve the climate crisis unless we act together across the ocean,” he said, pointing to the Amazon and the Atlantic as symbols of this connection.
Dr. Scherer, a marine biologist and coastal management expert at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil, noted that the ocean produces more than half of the world’s oxygen, absorbs 90 percent of excess heat and supports billions of livelihoods; however, it receives less than one percent of global climate finance.
“Protecting the ocean and the Amazon is not only an environmental imperative, but a collective act of survival,” he said. “The ocean can’t wait, and neither can we.”