New york: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on world leaders to take immediate and decisive actions to combat climate change. This urgent appeal was made at the World Leaders Climate Action Summit, a precursor to the 30th United Nations climate change conference, COP30, scheduled for November 10-21 in Belem, Brazil.

According to Namibia Press Agency, Guterres emphasized the need for a paradigm shift in addressing climate change challenges. He highlighted the failure to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Guterres warned of the potential dangers to ecosystems and the severe socioeconomic consequences of this failure.

Guterres urged global leaders to act swiftly to reverse the trend of global warming. He stated, "If we act now, at speed and scale, we can make the overshoot as small, as short, and as safe as possible -- and bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees Celsius before the century's end."

The UN chief stressed the importance of collective action and the need for this COP to initiate a decade of accelerated efforts and tangible results. He also highlighted the potential of clean energy to drive sustainable economic growth, citing that nearly all new power capacity in 2024 comes from renewable sources.