UN chief warns SDGs at risk while hailing clean‑energy surge at high‑level forum

New York.- United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres urged world leaders on Monday to act “with urgency and ambition” to rescue the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), even as he celebrated a historic boom in clean‑energy investment. Speaking at the High‑Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Guterres painted a stark picture: only 35 percent of SDG targets remain on track, while global conflicts, economic slowdowns and rising inequality threaten to undermine progress.

“The Sustainable Development Goals are not a dream. They are a plan,” Guterres said. “If we surrender now, the most vulnerable will pay the price.” He warned that shrinking aid budgets and surging military spending, amid a “global economy in retreat,” have strained multilateral problem‑solving.

Yet he highlighted bright spots. Last year, clean‑energy investment reached a record US$2 trillion, US$800 billion more than fossil‑fuel spending, and outpaced it by a wide margin. Technological advances drove solar power costs down by 41 percent and offshore wind by 53 percent below the cheapest new fossil alternatives, while renewable capacity additions now outnumber fossil‑fuel projects on every continent.

“This is not just a shift in power. It is a shift in possibility,” Guterres said in a special address titled “A Moment of Opportunity: Supercharging the Clean Energy Age.” He called on G20 nations, responsible for 80 percent of global emissions, to lock in more ambitious national climate plans aligned with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C target. He urged governments to double energy‑efficiency gains and triple renewables capacity by 2030, while accelerating the phase‑out of coal and oil.

Guterres also stressed that renewables offer “real energy sovereignty,” shielding nations from price shocks and geopolitical volatility tied to fossil fuels. However, he warned that emerging economies outside China received just 2 percent of global clean‑energy finance last year, a shortfall that must be addressed through reformed multilateral banks, debt relief mechanisms and more equitable private investment.

Pointing to recent wins, the World Health Assembly’s Pandemic Agreement and commitments from the UN Ocean Conference, Guterres insisted these “signs of momentum” prove that progress is possible. “This is our moment of opportunity,” he concluded. “The clean‑energy era is upon us, but it will not happen fast enough or fairly enough unless we choose it.”

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