The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has warned of what he described as “accelerating global climate emergency,” predicting worse conditions ahead.
According to him, the record-breaking summer temperatures, devastating wildfires and ocean heating are merely a prelude to worse conditions ahead.
Speaking to journalists at UN headquarters at the weekend, Guterres revealed alarming new seasonal forecasts from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), pointing to an intensifying El Niño event that threatens to shatter seasonal heat records across nearly every landmass on Earth through October.
“Two months ago, I warned that El Niño was arriving on our doorstep. Now it is inside the house – and turning up the heat,” Guterres said. “According to the latest science, this is only a warm-up act.”
The WMO’s latest outlook indicates that key ocean monitoring regions are averaging nearly 3 degrees Celsius above normal – a level of early-season warming never previously recorded. Combined with record-high global sea-surface temperatures observed in June and July, the phenomenon is expected to drive hotter-than-normal conditions across virtually all terrestrial regions over the next three months.
The consequences extend beyond temperature spikes. Guterres highlighted severe disruptions to global precipitation patterns, pointing specifically to India’s monsoon season, which is already running significantly below average. Hotter, drier conditions are simultaneously projected for:
“The verdict is clear: the climate crisis is in overdrive,” Guterres stated.
Guterres stressed that extreme heat remains a vastly understated global threat. Because fatalities directly linked to heat stroke, cardiovascular failure, and respiratory distress are frequently unrecorded or attributed to underlying conditions, official death tolls represent only a fraction of the actual casualties.
“Behind all of the numbers are people,” Guterres remarked. “Workers forced to choose between their health and their income. Children unable to learn. Entire cities struggling to function.”
While acknowledging progress since the launch of the UN Call to Action on Extreme Heat two years ago – including over 250 cities joining the Beat the Heat initiative – Guterres warned that “the planet is heating faster than our response.”
To bridge the gap, the UN chief outlined a four-pillar framework requiring immediate, government-wide coordination:
1. Protect Vulnerable Populations
Governments must roll out heat-health action plans, expanding early warning coverage and rapidly scaling up equitable, sustainable cooling infrastructure.
2. Implement Worker Protections
Highlighting sectors like the global garment industry – where 90 million workers face sharp spikes in dangerous heat days – Guterres called for mandatory heat standards, flexible working schedules, and guaranteed income protection when conditions force work to halt.
3. Build Climate-Resilient Urban Spaces
Urban planning, housing projects, schools, and health facilities must be retrofitted or newly built specifically to withstand extreme heat scenarios.
4. End the Subsidisation of Fossil Fuels
Framing fossil fuel consumption as the ultimate driver of climate instability, energy insecurity, and geopolitical volatility, Guterres criticised governments planning to produce more than double the fossil fuels allowed under the 1.5-degree Paris Agreement threshold by 2030.
Guterres called on the world leaders to stop viewing heatwaves and wildfires as isolated tragedies, demanding an immediate pivot away from fossil fuel expansion and subsidies.
“We are spending too much public money fuelling the crisis – and too little protecting the people from it,” Guterres declared.
“The warm-up act is over. We cannot afford to wait for the main event.”
