United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged countries to ensure that they submit their national climate plans by the new deadline of September this year.

The UN chief said the national climate plans, also called nationally determined contributions (NDCs) should be strong enough to limit global warming to 1 degree Celsius as stipulated in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Speaking during the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin, Germany where diplomats from 40 countries met to discuss the green transition in promoting growth and peace, Guterres said climate goals would only be met with stronger collaboration between governments, and across societies and sectors.

He also appealed to developed countries to provide finance to developing countries as they have promised at several ley international climate meetings.

“The rewards are there for the taking, for all those ready and willing to lead the world through these troubled times,” told delegates at the Berlin conference via video link last week, urging them to seize the moment and go for the prize.

Brazil, Germany and the UN joined diplomatic forces to convince the world that tackling the climate crisis is the path to economic and national security.

Brazilian diplomat, and the president-designate of the 2025 United Nations Climate Convention (COP30), André Aranha Corrêa Do Lago, whose country will host the climate summit in the Amazon Forest city of Belém, said not enough effort had been made to explain the benefits of climate action to the public and get all levels of society involved in implementing their countries’ plans.

“That’s why we want to increase as much as possible the participation of sub-national governments (at COP30) because they, at the end of the day, are the ones that are applying many of the orientations and the solutions that are given in these UN negotiations,” he added.

Ambitious action

He said the creation of new jobs and the adoption of new technologies, all depends so much on the private sector because we have to be realistic. Brazil, Germany and the UN are persuading the world on the national and economic benefits of pursuing ambitious climate action in challenging geopolitical times in a fast-warming planet.

Guterres and UN climate chief Simon Stiell both highlighted new data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) showing record growth of 15.1 per cent in renewable electricity capacity, mainly solar and wind, in 2024, accounting for 92.5 per cent of total power expansion.

“Renewables are renewing economies. They are powering growth, creating jobs, lowering energy bills, and clearing our air. And every day, they become an even smarter investment,” said Guterres.

However, IRENA said progress is still falling short of the amount of clean electricity needed to reach a global goal to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, which requires an annual expansion of 16.6 per cent.

Speaking at the ‘Europe 2025’ conference also in Berlin, Stiell said renewables grew in Asia last year at double the rate in Europe – with China accounting for 64 per cent of new global capacity – adding that there is still so much opportunity for Europe to step up the pace.

The UN’s top climate official noted that in a global clean energy boom that hit US$2 trillion last year, the dividends on offer are monumental.

“The clean energy transition can be Europe’s economic engine room, now – when new sources of growth are vital to buttress living standards – and for decades to come,” he said.

He warned that failure to pursue a green transition and tackle the climate crisis could carve up to 2.3 per cent off Europe’s gross domestic product (GDP) by mid-century and terming it a recipe for “permanent recession”.

In a dire warning, Australian economist Steve Keen told the authoritative UK-based Climate Home News international online publication that the figure cited by Stiell, based on European Commission data, is likely an under-estimate and out of step with what climate scientists view as a global warming trajectory that could lead “to the collapse of civilisation”.

Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, told journalists in Berlin that climate protection and economic growth are not contradictions, adding Europe wants to tap into the potential of clean technologies.

“If others like the US decide that they want to stay outside, then it is their decision, she said, referring to President Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse green policies and withdraw from global climate diplomacy.

“But we make it clear that we see opportunities for companies here in Europe, but also cooperation with companies and countries in Africa and Latin America, and other regions of the world,” she added.

The strong messaging around the economic benefits of acting to reduce planet-heating emissions was reinforced by new analysis, commissioned by the German government and released at the Petersberg dialogue, showing that higher climate ambition makes economic sense – even in the near term.

The research, done jointly by the UNDP and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, estimates that if countries delivered new climate plan (NDCs) that can meet the Paris Agreement goals, the world’s GDP in 2040 would be 0.2 per cent higher than with today’s policies – equal to the current GDP of Sweden.

By 2050, it adds, strong NDCs would reduce the risk of climate-induced events, prevent significant economic losses and increase global GDP by up to 3 per cent – and up to 13 per cent by 2100.

Climate counterargument

UNDP head Achim Steiner told the Petersberg conference that while the growth percentages may look small, they translate into “billions of dollars – and 176 million more people would be lifted out of extreme poverty with the right investments in energy transition, food security and other basic services.

The policy discussions in Germany last week represent a push at the highest international level to counter the arguments of opponents of a low-carbon transition who say social and economic changes required will be chaotic and unaffordable, with the financial burden falling on ordinary consumers.

European Commissioner for Climate Acton Wopke Hoekstra praised the contribution of the Paris Agreement and the UN climate process to reining in runaway climate change, but said progress was not yet sufficient, and it was important to keep going.

“I’m convinced that if we manage to succeed, and if we see more than less multilateralism, at COP30, we will send a very strong signal to the real economy that the transition to a net zero world is not just possible, but is actually fully underway,” he said.

In addition to the economic benefits, Germany’s foreign minister emphasised that tackling climate change is also a tough security policy because the climate crisis inflames and fuels conflicts about scarce land resources, drinking water and other resources, threatening lives. “The opposite is true as well,” said Baerbock. “Every centigrade of global warming that is less makes our world more secure”.

Separately, UN climate chief Stiell warned that a global failure to rein in climate change would fuel disasters making a growing number of regions unliveable and harming food production, forcing millions more people to migrate.

“Unquestionably, the climate crisis is an urgent national security crisis that should be at the top of every cabinet agenda. Surrender is not an option. And half measures are a recipe for failure,” he emphasised.