been more confident
United Nations (UN) Secretary- General António Guterres has declared that the world has “passed the point of no return” on the shift to renewables.
Guterres has since implored governments to submit sweeping new climate plans before November’s climate conference (CoP30) in Brazil, saying the fossil fuel era is nearing its end.
In a special address at UN Headquarters in New York, Guterres cited surging clean energy investment and plunging solar and wind costs that now outcompete fossil fuels.
“The energy transition is unstoppable, but the transition is not yet fast enough or fair enough,” the UN chief said.
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The speech, ‘A Moment of Opportunity: Supercharging the Clean Energy Age’, a follow-up to last year’s ‘Moment of Truth’, was delivered alongside a new UN technical report drawing on global energy and finance bodies.
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“Just follow the money,” Guterres said, adding that $2 trillion flowed into clean energy last year, $800 billion more than fossil fuels and up almost 70 percent in a decade.
He further said that new data from the International Renewable Energy Agency is showing solar, once four times costlier, is now 41 percent cheaper than fossil fuels.
Renewables nearly match fossil fuels in global installed power capacity, and “almost all the new power capacity built” last year came from renewables, Guterres said, adding that every continent added more clean power than fossil fuels.
Guterres reiterated that a clean energy future “is no longer a promise, it is a fact” and that no government, no industry and no special interest can stop it.
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“Of course, the fossil fuel lobby will try, and we know the lengths to which they will go. But I have never been more confident that they will fail because we have passed the point of no return,” he said.
In recent months, Malawi Government officials and environmental activists have increasingly voiced support for transitioning away from fossil fuels, aligning with global efforts to combat climate change.
In March 2025, a high-level dialogue was convened in Lilongwe by the Coordination Union for Rehabilitation of the Environment and the Fossil Fuel Non- Proliferation Treaty Initiative.
The event brought together government officials, civil society organisations, academia and energy experts to discuss Malawi’s transition to cleaner energy sources.
Secretary for Energy Alfonso Chikuni reiterated Malawi’s vulnerability to climate change and the need for a legally binding Fossil Fuel Treaty to secure financial and technical support for transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
