Climate – a necessary focus for leaders at UNGA80

The United Nations General Assembly opens this month against the backdrop of a transformed world. Only a year ago, leaders gathered in New York cautiously hopeful that multilateral cooperation could turn the tide on crises and major global challenges. Today, that hope is overshadowed by widening geopolitical fractures and a deepening sense of urgency. Multilateral institutions are under attack, aid budgets are shrinking, and global trust is eroding.

Meanwhile, climate impacts are intensifying, and science has been proven right about the expected trajectory. Summer 2025, once again, broke heat records. Floods, droughts and tornadoes raged across the globe.  Rising global greenhouse gas emissions are still not sufficiently controlled. Vulnerability is no longer a distant risk; it is here. But so too is the opportunity to build on the clean energy revolution that is now underway and accelerating.  

This year’s General Assembly matters not just as another diplomatic moment but as a crucial opportunity to protect the climate progress that has been made thus far while driving forward delivery, thereby establishing a secure and sustainable foundation for future global prosperity.

It lands in the tenth anniversary year of the Paris Agreement, which galvanized political attention and action and has subsequently brought global temperature projections down from more than 4°C to near 2°C. This shows that our collective efforts have made progress, but not yet at the pace and scale needed to protect the planet from the most devastating impacts of climate change.  

Ten years on from Paris, there can no longer be any doubt that climate action is the smart and strategic play.

For states, it enables energy security, underpins competitiveness, and sustains economic growth. For the international system, it is the foundation of cooperation between nations and creates common ground among diverse partners. Failing to act risks mounting economic and human loss due to climate impacts, destabilizing global food and water supplies, disrupting economic activity and value chains, fuelling migration pressures and fragility, and stoking competition and conflict. Acting boldly, by contrast, unlocks a global opportunity in clean energy and resilient infrastructure — a dividend that cannot be ignored. 

And credibility will depend on what leaders bring to New York.  

1. The first task is clear: countries need to show up speaking about climate as a core strategic priority, to double down on their support of global climate cooperation, and with that to ensure that they are putting forward ambitious new climate plans. With only 31 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 3.0 submissions to date, it is critical that the remaining 166 countries (which include the 27 EU member states) submit as soon as possible and by end of September at the latest for inclusion in the NDC synthesis report. Indeed, all eyes are on the EU and China. The EU must submit its updated NDC aligned with a 90 percent emissions cut by 2040. The repeated delays and lack of clarity around the EU’s 2035 NDC are a profound disappointment. Europe has long positioned itself as a standard-bearer for international climate leadership. Failing to deliver a credible and ambitious pledge undermines that role at a critical moment. It is also critical that China’s updated NDC is delivered with the expected and right level of ambition and focus. China must show how it will accelerate its coal transition and set an ambitious path to reduce emissions. A 2035 reduction target in the tens range is clearly insufficient. Likewise, Australia, South Korea, Mexico, South Africa, India, and others must lay out credible clean-growth pathways. The UN Secretary-General’s high-level event on climate action on November 24^th will be a key litmus to see who comes forward, and who lags behind.  
2. Second, leaders should unapologetically lean into their commitments toward achieving a decarbonized world, demonstrating that they will not squander, because of lack of political attention or prioritization or strategic focus, the economic opportunity. In 2024, global investment in the energy transition reached a record $2.1 trillion, across renewable energy, electrified transport, and energy storage – more than double that allocated towards fossil fuels, demonstrating investors and businesses are prioritizing these investments. At a time of intense public focus on rising prices, a focus on clean energy can also deliver cheaper prices to consumers, helping to secure a public mandate for energy transformation. Accelerating investment in renewables and storage and committing to transition timelines on oil and gas will make clear that the clean economy is the new center of gravity and leaders can show up in New York with compelling evidence of real-world results and resolve to do more.   
3. Third, and while acknowledging the real pressures in shrinking aid spaces, donor country leaders must hold strong in their commitment to climate finance and identify clear examples and partnerships that drive co-investment platforms in clean energy, resilient infrastructure, and critical technologies. Approximately fifteen developed country contributors have made climate finance commitments that expire in 2025 or 2026. Such signals would build credibility that the promises of COP29 in Baku – to provide $300bn and mobilize $1.3tn a year by 2035 – will be delivered. And greater partnerships and approaches to support developing countries and emerging economies must be catalytic, coordinated, and focused on high-impact areas, leveraging blended finance and new country platforms for energy transitions. 
4. Fourth, it is critical that leaders elevate the importance of tackling adaptation and resilience as both a domestic and global priority. Citizens are already paying the price through rising insurance costs, failing harvests, and stressed infrastructure. This also means indicating their support to adaptation financing and providing technical assistance to adaptation and resilience to those most in need.  
5. Finally, Leaders must reaffirm the critical role of science. With mis- and dis-information corroding public trust, it is critical that leaders make a visible stand for the integrity of facts and the imperative of science to guide and inform our policymaking.  

This stand must be underpinned by strategic alliances with key partners — from major emitters to climate-vulnerable countries — and by a clear sequence of initiatives, such as ministerial meetings, joint finance pledges, and technology cooperation, that build momentum towards COP30 in Belem. By setting out a vision for Belem that protects past progress and turbocharges implementation – on financing, decarbonisation, adaptation, and governance – UNGA can provide the climate leadership signals this moment demands. 

None of this is abstract. Acting now can save lives in the next heatwave, lower household energy bills, and secure jobs in the industries of the future.

UNGA80 is the moment to demonstrate that climate leadership can be the engine of growth, the anchor of strategic alliances, shared prosperity, and the demonstration that multilateralism still works when backed by ambition and delivery. 

E3G representatives will be participating in UNGA and Climate Week New York. To connect with us, please contact E3G via press@e3g.org