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STORY: UN / GUTERRES CLIMATE ACTION
TRT: 05:23
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
22 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Antonio Guterres walks up to the rostrum
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Now, we are on the cusp of a new era. Fossil fuels are running out of the road. The sun is rising on a clean energy age. Just follow the money. $2 trillion went into clean energy last year – that’s $800 billion more than fossil fuels, and up almost 70 per cent in ten years.”
4. Wide shot, audience
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“And new data released today from the International Renewable Energy Agency shows that solar – not so long ago four times the cost of fossil fuels – is now 41 per cent cheaper. Offshore wind – 53 per cent. And over 90 per cent of new renewables worldwide produced electricity for less than the cheapest new fossil fuel alternative. This is not just a shift in power. It is a shift in possibility.”
6. Wide shot, audience
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Last year, almost all the new power capacity built came from renewables. Every continent on Earth added more renewables capacity than fossil fuels. The clean energy future is no longer a promise. It’s a fact. No government. No industry. No special interest can stop it.”
8. Wide shot, audience
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies – they are sabotaging them. Driving up costs. Undermining competitiveness. Locking-in stranded assets. And missing the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century.”
10. Wide shot, audience
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“In 2022 average households around the world saw energy costs jump 20 per cent. Modern and competitive economies need stable, affordable energy. Renewables offer both. There are no price spikes for sunlight and no embargoes on wind. Renewables can put power – literally and figuratively – in the hands of people and governments. And almost every nation has enough sun, wind, or water to become energy self-sufficient.”
12. Wide shot, Antonio Guterres speaking at the event
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“AI can boost efficiency, innovation, and resilience in energy systems. And we must take profit of it. But it is also energy-hungry. A typical AI data-center eats-up as much electricity as 100,000 homes. The largest ones will soon use twenty times that. By 2030, data centres could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today.”
14. Wide shot, Antonio Guterres speaking at the event
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The fossil fuel age is flailing and failing. We are in the dawn of a new energy era. An era where cheap, clean, abundant energy powers a world rich in economic opportunity. Where nations have the security of energy autonomy. And the gift of power is a gift for all.”
16. Wide shot, end of the address, applause
23 JUNE 2025, NEW YORK CITY
17. Medium shot, UN flag behind solar panels
18. Various shots, solar panels on UNHQ roof
19. Wide shot, UN Secretariat building and solar panels
20. Wide shot, Secretary-General on a tour of solar panels
21. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“And so these are the panels.”
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Ploy Achakulwisut, Senior Programme Manager, Climate Action Team, United Nations:
“Yes, so as I was saying, they are a gift from India valued at around one million dollars.”
23. Medium shot, UN flag waving
24. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“These solar panels are helping to power our headquarters. The rise of renewable energy is irreversible, and the age of fossil fuels is running out of road.”
25. Medium shot, UN flag behind solar panels
“The sun is rising on a clean energy age,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, as he delivered a special address, outlining the economic opportunity of the energy transition.
Delivering a special address today (Jul 22) titled “A Moment of Opportunity: Supercharging the New Energy Era,” Guterres laid out a compelling, evidence-backed case for why the global shift to clean energy is both inevitable and urgent. He highlighted the progress made since the adoption of the Paris Agreement a decade ago, the remaining barriers and obstacles standing in the way of accelerated action, and the steps required to turbocharge a renewables revolution capable of delivering clean and affordable energy for all.
The speech, a follow-up to his Moment of Truth address last year, was accompanied by the announcement of a new technical report prepared by the Secretary-General’s Climate Action Team, with support from UN agencies and leading international institutions. The report synthesizes the latest science and evidence on the progress, opportunities, and benefits of the clean energy transition.
“Fossil fuels are running out of the road,” Guterres said. “Just follow the money. $2 trillion went into clean energy last year – that’s $800 billion more than fossil fuels, and up almost 70 per cent in ten years.”
He cited new data from the International Renewable Energy Agency: “Solar – not so long ago four times the cost of fossil fuels – is now 41 per cent cheaper. Offshore wind – 53 per cent. Over 90 per cent of new renewables worldwide produced electricity for less than the cheapest new fossil fuel alternative.”
“Last year, almost all the new power capacity built came from renewables,” he said. “Every continent on Earth added more renewables capacity than fossil fuels. The clean energy future is no longer a promise. It’s a fact.”
He warned that countries continuing to invest in fossil fuels are “not protecting their economies – they are sabotaging them,” and missing what he called “the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century.”
Guterres also underscored the importance of energy independence: “There are no price spikes for sunlight and no embargoes on wind,” he said.
Turning to technology, he sounded the alarm on growing energy demands, particularly from AI, “A typical AI datacenter eats up as much electricity as 100,000 homes.” In that regard the Secretary-General called on every major tech firm to power all data centres with 100% renewables by 2030.
Declaring the fossil fuel era “flailing and failing,” Guterres said, “We are in the dawn of a new energy era - an era where cheap, clean, abundant energy powers a world rich in economic opportunity. Where nations have the security of energy autonomy. And the gift of power is a gift for all.”
Just weeks earlier, during a visit to the rooftop of UN Headquarters, Guterres inspected solar panels that help power the building. “These solar panels are helping to power our headquarters,” he said. “The rise of renewable energy is irreversible, and the age of fossil fuels is running out of road.”
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