At climate news today from Cop31 in Turkey, Hilda Heine warned that overshooting 1.5C would leave Pacific Island states facing waves eating away at shores and floods destroying towns, schools and hospitals. She told leaders on Wednesday that an overwhelming response is needed or “the world we know is over.”
Heine said, “It’s time to wake up,” and added, “Our response to the threat of overshoot must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over.” She also said she saw bright, lush coral beneath the water of her home island in July that had been bleached white just months later. Her warning tied the summit’s diplomacy to changes already visible in the Marshall Islands.
Mia Mottley at Cop31
Mia Mottley said governments had not tried hard enough to curb emissions since the Paris agreement. She said the UN tells leaders that even if every pledge is delivered, the world is heading for 2.6 degrees, while current policies would lead to 2.8 degrees.
She called overshoot “a debt, a debt of heat, borrowed against our children’s future. And it must be repaid.” Her remarks put specific numbers on the gap between pledged action and the temperature path leaders say they want to avoid.
Guterres on fossil fuel profits
António Guterres blamed a deceitful fossil fuel industry and countries that keep expanding fossil fuel production while claiming to be committed to 1.5C. He said, “Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs,” and called for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies’ bumper profits.
He added, “It’s time for governments to tax these windfall profits and use them to help vulnerable countries recover. Polluters must pay.” His call gave governments a specific financing route: tax extraordinary profits and channel the money toward countries facing damage and recovery costs.
Erdoğan and new oilfields
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he wants Cop31 to be remembered as a turning point in the climate crisis, and said every minute countries fail to meet the Paris agreement targets, the risks and costs continue to grow. On Monday, he celebrated the discovery of two new oilfields with an estimated in-situ potential of 135m barrels.
Heine said every new oil well drilled and every piece of coal extracted was a threat to her country’s future, and she also said, “The discovery of new fossil fuel resources is not something to celebrate but something to fear.” After these speeches, the pressure on Cop31 is not about symbolism alone: the question is whether the summit can move from warnings and tax proposals to concrete commitments that match the 1.5C target.
