Gutterres Says It’s Time To Switch To Clean Energy Goals

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United Nations secretary-general António Guterres’ message was powerful on January 26, the International Day of Clean Energy. Rather than succumbing to the global powers’ failure to meet goals to cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, he insists “we must pick up the pace” to a “just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.” Temperature rise, he continues, is no longer persuasive as a mechanism for humans to save the planet. Instead, we can make the world as safe as possible through renewables, which are the engine that can drive the transition away from burning fossil fuels. “They are the cheapest source of new power” in most places, he has concluded.

The roadmap is clear. In order to triple global renewable capacity by 2030, world leaders must work to lift barriers, cut costs, and connect clean power to people and industry.

Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy: A Much Better Alternative

Fossil fuel hit historic highs in 2023 as the primary global energy consumption; it was the second hottest year on record, only outdone by 2025. Oil and coal have dominated the energy mix, but both dump carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. We’ve known for decades that fossil fuels come with a damaging and costly downside: they are warming our planet faster than anything previously seen in the geological record. They also cause other forms of pollution that severely harm human health.

In contrast, Guterres outlined how clean energy builds better lives for citizens around the world. Clean energy:

• connects communities still left in the dark;
• provides clean cooking;
• opens the door to better health, education, and opportunities;
• anchors new industries;
• creates decent jobs;
• lowers energy costs; and,
• shields countries from geopolitical shocks and market volatility.

Gutterez adds that the shift to clean energy infrastructure must be done “with scale, speed, and solidarity.” While the cost of solar has declined, the cost of offshore wind has fallen even more in the western world. However, he notes there are still significant barriers: “Grid infrastructure is lagging well behind the expansion of clean energy capacity, and high costs continue to shut many countries out of the transition entirely.”

What needs to be done to move more quickly ahead with clean energy infrastructure? Gutterez offers a list of solutions.

• Regulators must adopt policies that reward clean power and streamline permitting while protecting people and nature.
• Utilities must upgrade, expand, and digitize grids and interconnections, to carry clean power where it is needed, and scale storage so power systems stay steady as renewables grow.
• Industry must diversify supply chains so more countries can manufacture, install, and maintain clean energy systems. This includes the critical minerals essential to the transition, which must benefit producing countries and communities – not just global markets.
• Finance must bring down the cost of capital, especially for developing countries with vast renewable potential.
• Multilateral development banks must reduce risk and unlock far greater private investment.

“A Successful Return to 1.5 °C could be Confirmed only at the End of the Century”

A team of researchers writing in Nature concurs with Gutteres that the main focus of climate action in 2026 and beyond should be on accelerating the clean energy revolution. They argue that “the rate at which clean energy displaces fossil fuels in the global economy should become the key measure of climate progress.” Instead of temperature rise, they outline how the rate at which clean energy displaces fossil fuels in the global economy should become the key measure of climate progress.

To do so, a metric measuring the clean-energy shift” needs to become commonly adopted. This would be the growth rate in clean-energy generation minus the growth rate in total energy demand for a given time interval.

“This metric emphasizes that clean-energy supply must expand faster than overall energy demand for decarbonization. When the percentage growth of clean-energy supply exceeds the growth in total energy use, fossil fuels get squeezed out of the system. By contrast, simply measuring clean energy share is insufficient, because fossil fuels might also rise overall to meet extra demand.”

Individual countries could use the metric to track their own progress. The metric would be the upward product of the collective efforts of all countries, which would continue to determine their own energy policies. With global targets of clean-energy shifts in five-year intervals, each success would be “like rungs on a ladder, each climbing closer to a safe climate.” The intervals would be non-linear in terms of added capacity, “because clean-energy shift is a percentage-growth metric, the higher rungs reflect increasingly rapid rates of clean-energy expansion, rather than a constant yearly addition.”

Success means sustaining or increasing the last decade of clean energy installations to enable a fossil-fuels exit by 2050. Without such commensurate forward momentum, though, the researchers say that “lower numbers would mean fossil fuels staying longer as part of the energy mix.”

Final Thoughts about Switching our Focus from Temperature Rise

The world is in the midst of systemic change, and climate shifts require rethinking of economic systems, technology, and security environments. As Rebecca Solnit wrote this week, “Who foresaw that the twenty-first century renewable revolution would, as it made wind and solar powerful affordable adaptable energy-generation systems and brought large-scale battery storage on board, make it possible to leave the age of fossil fuel behind?”

Instead of allowing mis- and disinformation through AI-generated biometrics to shatter collective trust, we need to look to clean energy infrastructure that can mitigate temperature rise and stabilize the planet’s climate. The smart money is on wind and solar. Proven and commercially scalable technologies such as renewables, energy storage, EVs, and power grids have also come to influence the investment landscape.

Climate activist and writer Bill McKibben laments that many renewable energy technologies were first invented in the US, which then failed to capitalize on them.

Guterres said countries who face geopolitical threats and want lower cost electricity for their citizens must choose renewables. And, as he states, “We must ensure this transition is just — protecting workers and communities, supporting education, industrial development, and opportunity for all as energy systems evolve.”

Resources

• “As we breach 1.5 °C, we must replace temperature limits with clean-energy targets.” Kwesi A. Quagraine, Mark Lynas & Erle C. Ellis. Nature. January 26, 2026.
• “Past performance is not indicative of future results: On immigration and assumptions.” Rebecca Solnit. Meditations in an Emergency. January 28, 2026.
• “Secretary-General’s message on the International Day of Clean Energy.” António Guterres, Secretary-General. January 26, 2026.