That question underpinned many of the speeches from global leaders at this year’s High-level Week General Debate in New York, as climate change emerged as one of the defining fault lines dividing Member States.
UN News reviewed some of the key speeches to assess where those divisions are.
Leaders offered sometimes very different visions of what action should look like – from Pacific nations demanding a rapid move away from fossil fuels to energy producers stressing security, affordability and a more gradual transition.
Who, what, when
Across the statements, the main points of division were about how fast energy systems should change, what role fossil fuels should continue to play, and who should shoulder the cost of both the transition and the damage already being inflicted.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres – who made climate a central theme to this year’s High-level Week – opened the General Debate by calling for immediate action.
“A future beyond fossil fuels is in sight. The question is how?” he said, urging governments to adopt national plans to transition away from fossil fuels, with clear timelines and protection for workers and communities.
Pacific islands under threat
Some of the strongest calls for speed came from low-lying Pacific Island States, whose territories face threats to their very existence due to rising sea levels and intensifying floods.
The burning of fossil fules to generate electricity, causes both pollution and contributes to climate change.
The President of the Marshall Islands said the growing likelihood of overshooting the limit set by global leaders in Paris 10 years ago to keep an increase in temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, demanded a much faster response.
“A much accelerated transition away from fossil fuels is the only logical response. Continued investment in fossil fuels is not only immoral but irrational,” she said.
Tuvalu similarly called for a “fast, fair, just, and orderly transition away from fossil fuels”, alongside action to reduce both methane and carbon dioxide emissions.
Don’t jeopardise the economy
But other countries laid out more gradual or mixed pathways.
Saudi Arabia argued that climate action and energy security are compatible. It stressed “the importance of not excluding any source of energy” and of pursuing “realistic and comprehensive transition pathways” that deliver energy security, climate protection and economic development together.
Nigeria stressed that the climate transition should not come at the detriment of development.
“We reject the false choice between development and climate action,” the Vice President said.
Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan aims for net-zero emissions by 2060 while combining renewable energy and clean cooking with gas as a transitional fuel.
Venezuela also backed decarbonisation, but warned that an imposed transition could threaten food security, employment, production and affordable energy.
Brazil similarly prioritised energy security.
“We have achieved self-sufficiency in oil and will continue to explore the potential of new reserves, such as those in the Equatorial Margin. But we will not abandon the environmental agenda,” its President said, before pledging to advance the country’s decarbonisation roadmap.
Climate transition: An opportunity
On the other hand, several States sold climate action as an economic opportunity rather than sacrifice.
The UK linked clean energy, of the type provided by wind and solar, to jobs, growth and reindustrialisation.
Wind turbines in Bình Thuận, Viet Nam.
In a similar vein, Lesotho launched a Just Energy Transition Fund, which is intended to strengthen renewable energy capacity, achieve energy independence for the country, and help build an economy based in part on renewable-energy exports – with potential jobs for young people and women.
Portugal also presented renewables as a way to reduce dangerous energy dependencies. It said more than 70 per cent of its energy production comes from renewable sources and that its carbon-neutrality target has been brought forward to 2045.
Climate change dissenters
The United States stood further apart from much of the climate framing.
President Donald Trump promoted expanded fossil fuel production and mocked previous warnings about global warming.
US President Donald Trump (at podium) addresses the UN General Debate.
He cited “people who said we’ll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming, a name since reborn to climate change because the planet was cooling, not warming, and nobody was dead.”
He stated that his administration successfully halted an international “global carbon tax” on shipping from Member States of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), asserting that “there is no global government.”
Who pays – and on what terms?
For many developing and climate-vulnerable countries, financing emerged as another major fault line.
Nepal described climate disasters as a development emergency: damaged roads, schools, homes and clean-energy infrastructure can wipe out years of progress, while forcing poorer countries to borrow to rebuild.
Mud covers Nuwakot District in central-northern Nepal following devastating flash floods.
It called for grant-based support rather than more debt and criticised the difficulty of accessing existing mechanisms.
“Climate finance must not become a bureaucratic maze through which vulnerable countries spend years proving that they need help,” Nepal’s Prime Minister said.
Seychelles went further, bringing in international law. It argued that mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer and loss-and-damage finance “are not acts of charity—they are legal obligations,” and called for affordable long-term finance and debt relief.
When climate change threatens the map
For small island States, climate change also became a question of sovereignty.
“The sea does not negotiate. It does not read communiqués. And it does not recognise a veto,” the Bahamas Prime Minister told the Assembly.
The Bahamas endorsed the Declaration on Sea-Level Rise, saying it affirmed that its statehood and boundaries would endure despite rising seas. Tuvalu likewise highlighted provisions affirming continuity of statehood and sovereignty and safeguarding established maritime zones and rights.
The Marshall Islands also said its existing boundaries and baselines should endure as seas rise, while calling for accessible finance for adaptation and loss and damage.
From promises to implementation
Several leaders also pointed to practical measures already underway.
Pointing to commitments to protect 30 per cent of land and seas, France’s President held up recent progress on environmental protection as proof that multilateral action can work.
Others proposed concrete ideas for furthering cooperation. Nepal, for example, proposed a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism, led by Nepal, India and China, to share satellite data and expertise, monitor dangerous glacial lakes, strengthen early-warning systems and coordinate cross-border disaster assistance.
At the same time, several leaders voiced frustration with the gap between commitments and delivery.
Türkiye said it wanted the major upcoming UN-backed international climate conference, COP31, which it will host in November, to become an “Implementation COP.”
Denmark made a similar argument. “The challenge before us is no longer a lack of solutions. We have the solutions. We know what is required. Now we need to deliver,” the Danish Ambassador said, also calling for COP31 to focus on implementation and “real-world results”.
