'The world we know is over,' Marshall Islands president warns at COP31

newsNov 11, 202637307

Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine told COP31 delegates in Turkey, "Our response to the threat of overshoot must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over," warning that overshooting the 1.5C Paris target will mean waves eating away shores and floods destroying towns, schools and hospitals. Heine said she saw bright lush coral around her island in July that had been bleached white months later and called every new oil well and piece of coal extracted a threat to her country’s future. UN secretary general António Guterres accused the fossil fuel industry of distorting science, urged an "extraordinary acceleration" on emissions cuts, and proposed a windfall tax on oil and gas profits to help vulnerable countries recover. Barbados prime minister Mia Mottley said even if every pledge is delivered the world is heading for 2.6C, and on current policies 2.8C, calling overshoot a "debt of heat" owed to future generations. Turkey is co-hosting COP31 with Australia, a pairing praised by both Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Anthony Albanese, even as Erdoğan on Monday celebrated two new oilfields with an estimated in-situ potential of 135 million barrels. Heine said the discovery of new fossil fuel resources is not something to celebrate but something to fear, framing the speeches at the leaders summit as a push for far stronger measures to protect vulnerable nations. Guterres is due to step down next month, and his call for windfall taxes and sharper emissions action is positioned to shape negotiations through the remainder of COP31.

Prof Bill McGuire

@profbillmcguire.bsky.social

It's worse than that The world we know is over - even with urgent action www.theguardian.com/environment/...

144Yesterday

Tommi Salonen3

Yeah, with leaders like this: "Erdoğan said he wants Cop31 to be remembered as a turning point in the climate crisis and called on countries to act, rather than just make promises [...] However, on Monday, away from the conference hall, Erdoğan celebrated the discovery of two new oilfields [...]"

Hugo3

"... and I feel fine"

Coldwar1.0Survivor3

Thanks to the wealthy and bought off politicians We must now learn to survive what they have wrought The wealthy and politicians will die too Maybe not as fast as everyone else But they will We have created our own exinction

@frederickbralorne 📎2

And the push to make worse than worse continues ...

This will all end in tears...2

This the 25th last year to take action and avert disaster right? And still the people in power pick profit over environment every time.

Esheru

@esherukweku.bsky.social

More waffle. The world has had about 50 years, and leaders have done absolutely nothing except take money from fossil fuel companies, and turned the blind eye. But let’s continue drinking for paper straws, like that’s gonna fix the fucking problem www.theguardian.com/environment/...

39Yesterday

Chantzy

@chantzy.bsky.social

One of my favourite speeches from today's #COP31 session with world leaders was from the President of Marshall Islands Hilda Heine: "Our response to the threat of [1.5°C] overshoot must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over" youtu.be/ZhBOo8NKGUw?...

262d ago

Andrew Longhurst 🇨🇦 🍉

@alonghurst.bsky.social

“It’s time to kick the habit and end the fossil-fuel addiction,” [the UN secretary general] said, to applause. “It’s time for governments to tax these windfall profits and use them to help vulnerable countries recover. Polluters must pay.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

21Yesterday

Quoting this

elcanaco.bsky.social8

Polluters must pay. Nations that are meeting their climate targets by transitioning to renewables should sue the polluters. The Dirty Dozen: 1. USA 2. China 3. Saudi Arabia 4. India 5. Russia 6. Canada 7. Iraq 8. Iran 9. UAE 10. Japan 11. Brasil 12. Indonesia #ClimateCrisis #cdnpoli #COP31

Frances Larina2

Imagine if nations actually started taxing oil companies to the point it really mattered and then using that money to get off oil & adapt to the new world. It could start with just a few and then greed would take over and finish the job.

AliceK

@coalisdead.bsky.social

I don’t think people realise how serious ‘the shit’ we’re in, is. To slow climate change, the public will need to demand better from politicians, business & media Fossil fuel companies are in the business of death, deserve complete contempt www.theguardian.com/environment/...

13Yesterday

Steven Hassan PhD

@cultexpert.freedomofmind.com

I hope the folks who have just been elected do something big to move everyone to renewables! Anyone who says global climate crisis is a hoax is a propagandist for greedy Fossil Fuel executives! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

21Yesterday

Climate Tracker

@climate.skyfleet.blue

‘The world we know is over’ without urgent climate action, Marshall Islands president tells Cop31 #Climate

8Yesterday

Janet 🇨🇦

@jansplanet.bsky.social

‘The world we know is over’ without urgent climate action, leaders tell #Cop31 “Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, also called out governments who had “not tried hard enough” to curb emissions since the Paris agreement.”

6Yesterday

Noel Dickover

@noeldickover.bsky.social

One of the top priorities for the Democratic party needs to be to re-focus the nation on the critical threat to humanity: Climate change. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

5Yesterday

lilyandpop

@lilyandpop.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/... Try telling this to the ignorant GOP who think they can buy Mother Earth

2Yesterday

Ms Hooper

@mshooper.bsky.social

“The UN tells us that, even if every pledge is delivered, we are heading for 2.6 degrees,” . “On current policies, 2.8 degrees is where we will end up. “Let me be plain: overshoot is not a new target. It is a debt, a debt of heat, borrowed against our children’s future. And it must be repaid.”

3Yesterday

🔥chet🔥

@chetfu74.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/... “It’s time to wake up,” said Heine. “Our response to the threat of overshoot must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over.” Who Survives When Nothing's Left⁉️

2Yesterday

Mark Barnes SF 🌈

@mwbsf.bsky.social

"Failure to provide an overwhelming response to the climate crisis means “the world we know is over”

3Yesterday

James Renwick

@cubaraglanguy.bsky.social

"The world we know is over" - and not just on Tropical Pacific islands, fam. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

4Yesterday

Emma Cameron

@ecameron.bsky.social

“We need an extraordinary acceleration,” Guterres said. “Our planet is heating up. The clock is winding down. It’s make or bake time. Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, and that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby – fossil fuels do.” #COP31 #climatecrisis

2Yesterday

1 source

theguardian.com‘The world we know is over’ without urgent climate action, Marshall Islands president tells Cop31

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'The world we know is over,' Marshall Islands president warns at COP31

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