BELÉM, Brazil — Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has called for a just and rules-based global energy transition, warning that a sudden or blanket ban on fossil fuels would be unjust to developing nations still confronting energy poverty, heavy debt burdens and limited access to affordable finance.
Speaking at a high-level roundtable during the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, President Ali stressed that fossil fuels still supply more than 80 percent of the world’s energy demand and remain critical to powering the transition itself.
“Does the world still need fossil fuel? Can we meet the energy gap, energy poverty, and power the new world driven by AI without fossil fuel?” he asked. “The real question is: how do we manage this transition in a way that is just, rules-based, and equitable?”
The President noted that global energy demand has risen by roughly seven percent in the past three years, with fossil fuels accounting for about 60 percent of that increase. He said that for many developing countries, high debt levels, limited fiscal space and unequal access to capital markets make a rapid fossil-fuel phase-out both unrealistic and inequitable.
President Ali proposed that the global community prioritise new financial and technological mechanisms — including transition-finance facilities, concessional instruments, risk guarantees and expanded access to grid-modernisation and carbon-capture technologies. “If we can balance investing in the energy of the future while managing fairly the decline of the energy sources of today,” he said, “then the transition will be science-based, predictable and fair.”
He underscored that developing economies like Guyana are already leading efforts to decarbonise responsibly — investing in renewable energy, forest protection and climate adaptation, even while using limited oil and gas resources to fund sustainable development.
At COP30’s opening plenary, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning that the failure to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius constitutes “a moral failure and deadly negligence.” He cautioned that exceeding this threshold, even temporarily, could push ecosystems past irreversible tipping points, displace billions and undermine global peace and food security.
“We can choose to lead — or be led to ruin,” Guterres said, urging nations to commit to credible phase-out timelines for coal, oil and gas while delivering the long-promised US$100 billion in annual climate finance for developing countries.
Hosting the conference, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared that COP30 must be the “COP of truth.” Standing before world leaders in the Amazonian city of Belém, Lula said, “The era of speeches and good intentions is over. What the world demands now is action.”
He announced the creation of the Tropical Forests Forever Fund, a new financing initiative aimed at mobilising billions of dollars in private investment to protect tropical forests across more than 70 developing nations. Lula also condemned “extremist forces spreading lies about climate change” and called for unity to defend both the environment and democracy.
President Ali’s message in Belém echoed a growing call among developing nations: that the global climate agenda must acknowledge different starting points and economic realities.
“The path to net-zero cannot trample over the aspirations of those still striving for basic energy access,” he said earlier this week ahead of COP30.
As the conference continues, leaders are under pressure to balance climate ambition with economic justice — a challenge President Ali insists must be guided by science, solidarity, and fairness.