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STORY: UNGA80 / CLIMATE SUMMIT OPENING
TRT: 5:30
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / CHINESE / PORTUGUESE / NATS
DATELINE: 24 SEPTEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1.Various shots, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
24 SEPTEMBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, conference room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“It is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by century’s end.”
4. Wide shot, conference room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Clean energy is powering jobs, growth and sustainable development; Generating the fastest and cheapest electricity; Insulating economies from volatile fossil fuel markets; Providing energy security and sovereignty; And helping to deliver clean and affordable energy for all. Despite vast fossil fuel subsidies distorting markets, clean energy received double the investment of fossil fuels last year.”
6. Wide shot, conference room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The bottom-line: clean is competitive, and climate action is imperative.”
8. Wide shot, conference room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“We must supercharge the clean energy transition. Investing in grids and storage to unlock the full potential of renewables. Lowering capital costs for developing countries. And redirecting fossil fuel subsidies to a just transition.”
10. Wide shot, conference room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“That requires reforming the international financial architecture to strengthen developing country participation. We need effective debt relief, and scaled-up solutions like debt swaps and disaster pause clauses. We need a major increase in the lending capacity of multilateral development banks; Significant contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund – including from innovative sources; And a major boost in adaptation finance – with developed countries meeting their pledge to double funding this year.”
12. Wide shot, conference room
13. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil:
“Fatalism is the worst enemy of action. The energy transition opens the door to a productive and technological transformation comparable to the Industrial Revolution. Nationally determined contributions are the roadmap that will guide each country through this change. They are no mere numbers or percentages. They are an opportunity to rethink models, and we are in policies and investments toward a new economic paradigm.”
14. Wide shot, conference room
15. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil:
“For this to happen on a global scale, wealthy nations need to bring forward their climate neutrality targets. And that's in expand access to resources and technologies for developing countries. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities remains valid.”
16. Wide shot, conference room
17. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xi Jinping, President of China:
“Let me take this opportunity to announce China's new NDCs as follows. China will, by 2035, reduce economy wide net greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent to 10 percent from peak levels, striving to do better. Increase the share of non-fossil fuels in total energy consumption to over 30 percent."
18. Wide shot, conference room
19. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xi Jinping, President of China:
“Green and low carbon transition is the trend of our time. While some country is acting against it, the international community should stay focused on the right direction, remain unwavering and confidence, unremitting in actions and unrelenting in intensity, and push for formulation and delivery on NDCs with a view to providing more positive energy to the cooperation on global climate governance."
20. Wide shot, conference room
21. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xi Jinping, President of China:
“The world now faces a huge demand for green development. It is important that countries strengthen international coordination in green technologies and industries to address the shortfall in green production capacity and ensure free flow of quality green products globally, so that the benefits of green development can reach all corners of the world.”
22. Wide shot, conference room
By COP30, all Parties to the Paris Agreement must submit new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that reflect bold action for the next decade. These updated plans are a chance to unlock the benefits of a just, resilient, low-carbon future.
To accelerate momentum, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres hosted a Special High-Level Event on Climate Action today (24 Sep) as a platform for leaders to present their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Guterres stressed, “It is still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by century’s end.”
He highlighted, “Clean energy is powering jobs, growth and sustainable development; Generating the fastest and cheapest electricity; Insulating economies from volatile fossil fuel markets; Providing energy security and sovereignty; And helping to deliver clean and affordable energy for all.”
“Despite vast fossil fuel subsidies distorting markets, clean energy received double the investment of fossil fuels last year, the UN chief said.
Guterres reiterated, “The bottom-line: clean is competitive, and climate action is imperative.”
The Secretary-General noted that fossil fuels still dominate, adding that “We must supercharge the clean energy transition. Investing in grids and storage to unlock the full potential of renewables. Lowering capital costs for developing countries. And redirecting fossil fuel subsidies to a just transition.”
On climate justice, Guterres said, “That requires reforming the international financial architecture to strengthen developing country participation. We need effective debt relief, and scaled-up solutions like debt swaps and disaster pause clauses. We need a major increase in the lending capacity of multilateral development banks; Significant contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund – including from innovative sources; And a major boost in adaptation finance – with developed countries meeting their pledge to double funding this year.”
For his part, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said, “The energy transition opens the door to a productive and technological transformation comparable to the Industrial Revolution.”
“Nationally determined contributions are the roadmap that will guide each country through this change. They are no mere numbers or percentages. They are an opportunity to rethink models, and we are in policies and investments toward a new economic paradigm,” he reiterated.
For this to happen on a global scale, President Lula said, “wealthy nations need to bring forward their climate neutrality targets. And that's in expand access to resources and technologies for developing countries. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities remains valid.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced, via a video link, that his country will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by seven percent to ten percent by 2035. He also mentioned China will expand the installed capacity of wind and solar power to over six times the 2020 levels, striving to bring the total to 3,600 giga watts. Make new energy vehicles the mainstream in the sales of new vehicles, expand the national carbon emissions trading market to cover major high emission sectors.
“Green and low carbon transition is the trend of our time,” the Chinese President reiterated.
He said, “While some country is acting against it, the international community should stay focused on the right direction, remain unwavering and confidence, unremitting in actions and unrelenting in intensity, and push for formulation and delivery on NDCs with a view to providing more positive energy to the cooperation on global climate governance.
President Xi highlighted that the world now faces a huge demand for green development. “It is important that countries strengthen international coordination in green technologies and industries to address the shortfall in green production capacity and ensure free flow of quality green products globally, so that the benefits of green development can reach all corners of the world,” he concluded.
This year’s Summit brought together leaders from government, business, and civil society, around thematic Solutions Dialogues, to put forward ideas to drive action across mitigation, adaptation, finance, information integrity and other critical areas, in line with the Paris Agreement and COP30 priorities.
