The Antalya Leaders’ Summit of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) opened on Wednesday, with a focus on turning climate commitments into concrete action.
Opening the high-level meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged international cooperation on shared challenges. “We do not need countries to agree on everything, but we do need them to cooperate on the things no country can solve alone,” he said.
Guterres noted that global emissions reached a record high in 2025 and that the past four years were the hottest in history. Pointing out that fossil fuels must be phased out, he stated that major oil companies should contribute to recovery efforts through taxes on their windfall profits.
Highlighting the transition in the energy sector, Guterres added that solar power alone met nearly three quarters of the growth in global electricity demand last year, proving that clean energy has become the cheapest source of new electricity across most of the world. — Xinhua #TheGlobalNewLightOfMyanmar