Climate action must remain central to UN, says Antonio Guterres

Antalya: Truth, courage, multilateralism and science were the themes that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to repeatedly as he addressed the media for the final time at a climate conference as head of the United Nations.

Guterres, who demits office at the end of the year, has spent the past decade advocating climate action. Looking back on his decade as UN chief, Guterres stressed the centrality of climate change to the work of the United Nations. It was perhaps a message to his successor, who may have to contend with calls for the UN to "return" to its mandate of "maintaining peace and security".

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Climate change, the UN chief said, "does not stay in its lane". It drives anger and displacement around the world, wipes out development gains built over decades, pushes countries deeper into debt and aggravates competition for land and water. "It fuels instability, and increasingly, it threatens the very existence of communities and countries."

Guterres said a different future was possible, and that a cleaner, safer and more secure energy future was "in our hands".