LETTER FROM GLOBAL LEADERS & NOBEL LAUREATES

As former government leaders and Nobel laureates from across the globe, we write with a shared sense of urgency and responsibility regarding the future of our planet. We commend the United Nations for its intention to hold a Summit of the Future this September – a landmark UN meeting that seeks to secure a sustainable and equitable future for all.

However, we are gravely concerned that the draft Pact for the Future does not even mention fossil fuels, one of the greatest threats facing the world today. 

The extraction and burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of the climate crisis, fueling extreme weather, fires, lethal heat, droughts and flooding that are threatening lives and livelihoods around the planet.

Yet this isn’t the end of the carnage – the extraction and burning of fossil fuels undermine all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including jeopardising public health, fuelling conflict, exacerbating social inequalities, and threatening biodiverse ecosystems worldwide. 

To achieve the Summit’s intention to “deliver a better present and safeguard the future”, world leaders must commit to a fast and fair transition away from fossil fuels. 

Such a transformation can only happen with unprecedented levels of international cooperation. Nation states must work together to end the expansion of oil, gas and coal in line with the scientific and economic consensus laid out by the IPCC, the IEA and other internationally reliable scientific bodies; negotiate equitable phase-out timelines to complement and implement the Paris Agreement; and scale the finance required to ensure that every country, community and worker can transition to a future of prosperity without fossil fuels.

Our nations have come together to address major global threats to human development in the past – from ending the scourge of landmine production to protecting the ozone from dangerous chemicals. We must now once again use international cooperation to effectively tackle one of the greatest challenges facing the world. We commend the growing bloc of 13 nations spearheading such an effort by seeking the negotiation of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

Therefore, we call on the United Nations to ensure that the Pact for the Future includes robust commitments to manage and finance a fast and fair global transition away from coal, oil and gas extraction in line with the 1.5ºC limit agreed to by nations in the Paris Agreement. 

If the Summit of the Future does not address the threat of fossil fuels, it will not be worthy of its name, risking undermining a once-in-a-century opportunity to restore trust in the power of international cooperation. 

Together, we have the opportunity to chart a course toward a sustainable, prosperous, and equitable future for all – but this requires a bold and courageous effort to build a world free of fossil fuels. Let us seize this moment and act with courage and conviction for the sake of our planet and future generations.