Greenpeace live blog coverage of UNGA 2026
Starting today 18 September, world leaders are gathering in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), with a spotlight on our urgent global challenges in the context of a worldwide economic disruption caused by conflicts and geopolitical instability.
Amid these tensions, the 2026 UNGA is a critical moment in the international climate calendar to revitalise global cooperation and multilateralism, with a key focus on the intensifying climate risks. The UNGA will be complemented by New York Climate Week (NYCW) – which runs from 20-27 September.
Outgoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to make climate a central part of his legacy, declaring “the world stands at a juncture where joint leadership, not division, can save the planet.”
Guterres will host a High-Level Event on Climate Action and the Just Transition – a summit that comes after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a groundbreaking report declaring the world will overshoot the 1.5°C global warming threshold within the next few years.
Overshooting 1.5°C – a limit leaders committed to pursuing in the Paris Agreement – will worsen extreme weather impacts and intensify the risks of climate change. This prospect makes this year’s UNGA a pivotal moment for political leaders to respond.
The UNGA High-Level Week 2026 will run from 18 September 2026 to 28 September 2026 and Greenpeace will be covering the UNGA with a live blog, bringing you regular updates and insights. Check back here for rolling updates throughout the coming week.
Find live updates below:
Despite US-China deal, coal is already on its way out in China, and won’t be coming back
Updated: 29 September
While Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was speaking at the UN General Assembly this weekend, reiterating the need for wealthy nations to meet their climate finance commitments to the Global South, Chinese President Xi Jinping just finished meeting with his American counterpart Donald Trump. Amid trade discussions, there was an agreement that China would import 10 million tons of coal from the US in both 2027 and 2028.
So, what to make of this commitment? Suspending the import of US coal was one of China’s early countermeasures in the first years of the trade war with the US. At the time, it was a low-hanging fruit in China’s countermeasures, as American exports of coal into China were very small. So, it was easy to use firm language like “suspend all coal imports” while ultimately needing to rearrange little on the Chinese side. This agreement to import 10 million tons again is in the big scheme of things not a large amount of coal, and also appears largely symbolic. (If history is any indicator, these deals are rarely 100% followed though on either, so time will tell if the cumulative 20 million tons ever make it over.)
One risk of such a symbolic agreement is that it makes it look like China needs coal, which does not reflect the current state of China’s energy transition or Beijing’s planning moving forward. In China, the coal industry is in a structural decline. Coal power is no longer competitive with renewable energy without significant state support. And top-level planning documents have already relegated it into a “supportive role” from 2026 to 2030, as mass additions of renewable energy take center stage in what China is calling its “new power system.”
Coal is on the way out. Greenpeace East Asia’s Beijing office calls for Beijing to present a clear deadline to phase out coal. This demand surrounds the lack of downward flexibility of coal power plants, as they are not well-suited to efficiently play a flexible, supportive role in the energy system, and the risk that lingering coal capacity presents to stronger uptake of massive wind and solar additions, including the need to install more energy storage battery systems on the power grid. But what’s already clear is that coal’s days are numbered, and 20 million (maybe) tons of coal imports won’t be a lifeline for a dying industry.
The risks of global sea level rise and why we need to act
Updated: 24 September
A high-level meeting focused on the Existential Threats Posed by Sea Level Rise held in New York at the UNGA81 aimed to progress solutions and actionable commitments to combat sea level rise.
In response, Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “At the first UNGA meeting on sea level rise in 2024, low-lying countries and small island states including Pacific nations called for urgent action to address a global crisis threatening one billion people worldwide. But global temperatures have continued to climb and the impacts from rising seas have only worsened.
“The ocean, our moana, our wansolwara – a source of life and sustenance and security for Pacific communities – is transforming into a malevolent force; our cultures and way of life face an existential threat. This is why UN events must turn talk into action because limiting global warming to 1.5°C is a non-negotiable survival line for Pacific people.
“Pacific Island nations are already facing at least 15-20 cm of irreversible sea level rise over the next 30 years regardless of future cuts to emissions. As the climate crisis worsens — as outlined in the latest UNEP report — extreme sea level and coastal flooding events will become much more frequent and intense.
“Across the Pacific, we are witnessing our lands and coastlines being washed away with rising tides and storm surges. In Fiji, communities are planning or undergoing relocations away from vulnerable coastlines as they become some of the world’s first climate migrants.
“Australia, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters, is offering visas to 280 Tuvalu citizens per year under a climate migration deal offered to the atoll nation, large parts of which will be rendered uninhabitable due to sea-level rise by 2050. But land and identity are inseparable in the Pacific. When low-lying lands in countries like Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands are washed away and communities are forced to relocate, people’s traditions, cultures and ancestral connections are likewise eroded.
“Coastal flooding leads to saltwater inundation of low-lying agricultural lands, turning once fertile lands inhospitable to staple foods like taro, cassava and breadfruit and resulting in lost livelihoods. Communities can become malnourished, forced to rely on imported and often highly processed foods, further entrenching health impacts. These are the injustices of climate change.
“So who should pay when communities are forced to rebuild and relocate? Who should bear the consequences due to the impunity of some of the world’s most polluting countries and corporations? We can and must find our way back to 1.5°C. That means a just transition away from all fossil fuels, climate finance that puts communities first, and ensuring oil and gas profits don’t extinguish our future.”
UNGA climate event must lead to accelerated action
Updated: 23 September
The High-Level Event on Climate Action and the Just Transition – a final initiative of outgoing Secretary-General Guterres who has made climate a key element of his legacy – must help consolidate a response to the global climate and energy crises.
Jasper Inventor, Deputy Programme Director, Greenpeace International said: “We are overshooting our climate limits while fossil fuel companies are overflowing with profits. As those most responsible for the climate crisis continue to cash in, this year’s repeated disasters pose a clear question: will politicians finally end the industry’s destruction? Talk is cheap, but life is priceless and our climate stability is disintegrating the longer we delay.
“The answer is not found in discord or division, but urgent collective action for our mutual benefit. Governments must develop and implement national roadmaps that accelerate a fast, fair and funded just transition into renewable energy and ensure we hold fossil fuel polluters and forest destroyers to account for the destruction they’ve caused.”
Why methane emissions must be rapidly reduced to limit global warming
Updated: 23 September
The UN High-Level Solutions Dialogue on Methane at the UN General Assembly aimed to advance ambition and action around three priority sectors outlined by UN Secretary-General Guterres: fossil fuels, waste and agriculture.
Greenpeace International Executive Director Mads Christensen addressed the dialogue and called for urgent action against industrial livestock production – the largest source of methane emissions. As the world faces a looming 1.5°C warming overshoot in the next few years, cutting methane offers the fastest path to slow near-term warming.
Christensen warned against ignoring agricultural emissions in national climate policies: “We are putting our heads in the sand if we expect to reach the goals of the Global Methane Pledge without addressing livestock. Unchecked industrial livestock production drives superheating emissions, deforestation, water pollution and extinction.”
Christensen highlighted how corporate lobbying has stalled policy action across the agriculture sector: “Industrial agriculture claims livestock emissions are too hard to reduce. They lobby for subsidies and deregulation that allow industrial methane emissions to grow unchecked – projected to rise by 30% by 2050.”
Greenpeace is calling on UNGA81 leaders to show political courage by transforming global food systems. “We can reduce livestock emissions by shifting away from industrial production to nature-friendly farming that restores biodiversity, sequesters carbon, revitalises rural economies and empowers local farmers,” Christensen added.
How can multilateralism deliver a strong Global Plastics Treaty?
Updated: 23 September
Panama and Vanuatu hosted a high-level ministerial dialogue at the UN General Assembly focused on the state of environmental multilateralism and how international cooperation can adapt to deliver on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. One of the three case studies was the resumed negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty.
It was a dialogue Greenpeace attended as we continue to advocate for a legally binding treaty to regulate the full plastic life cycle: extraction, production, design, use and disposal. Such a treaty is critical because plastic is already in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.
Plastic production is tied to fossil fuels, toxic chemicals, biodiversity loss and unequal health impacts. As plastic pollution crosses borders, national action alone cannot stop it and recycling alone cannot solve the crisis either, as it’s driven by ever-rising production. So the question is: how can multilateralism overcome deadlock?
Multilateralism works when inclusive negotiations are matched by political courage. A large coalition of ambitious countries should advance science-based rules, refuse a weak lowest-common-denominator agreement and keep the door open for every state to join. Coalition-led action should strengthen the UN process by demonstrating workable standards, mobilising finance and sustaining pressure for universal rules.
Greenpeace believes global cooperation is needed now more than ever. Rules based global order helps us all work together to tackle the triple planetary crisis and countries need to take decisive action for the global good. The answer is not more delay or voluntary promises. UNGA81 leaders should build a high-ambition coalition capable of securing binding global rules that put human rights, health and the planet before petrochemical profits.
As Graham Forbes, Greenpeace’s Global Plastics Campaign Lead, said: “the plastics crisis is a public health emergency”. We are therefore calling for global plastic production to fall by at least 75 % by 2040, alongside binding controls on hazardous chemicals, the phase-outs of unnecessary single-use plastics and targets that scale reuse and refill systems.
Modern environmental multilateralism must deliver for the people and planet: governments using shared evidence, common obligations and accountable cooperation to turn the plastics tap off, protect communities and make a toxic-free, reuse-based economy possible for everyone, everywhere.
How the momentum on electrification is building ahead of COP31
Updated: 23 September
Following the surge of interest at the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB64) and London Climate Week in June, Türkiye’s COP31 President-Designate Murat Kurum announced a new 35 by 35 electrification pledge during the UN General Assembly and committed to “rally the world” behind it. Chris Bowen, Australia’s President of Negotiations for COP31, echoed that call, declaring close partnership with Türkiye to ensure COP31 would become an “Electrification COP”.
The case for electrification is abundantly clear – reinforced by the IEA’s new special report showing that ‘35 by 35’ is in “striking distance” and can yield US$400 billion in fuel import savings and cut 15 % off household energy bills.
In response to growing momentum on electrification, Tracy Carty, Global Climate Politics Expert at Greenpeace International said: “The focus on electrification is welcome and necessary, but the conversation can’t end there. The ‘35 by 35’ goal must be a floor not a ceiling for ambition and its success depends on ensuring electricity comes from renewable sources that displace fossil fuels, as part of an equitable, affordable, 1.5°C aligned and people-centred transition backed by finance and other support to developing countries that need it.”
While new records are being set for renewables year on year, a new IRENA-led assessment launched in New York warns that meeting the global target of tripling renewables by 2030 means installed capacity must more than double today’s levels.
Agreement at COP31 must therefore pair the ‘35 by 35’ goal with a commitment to rapidly scale up renewable electricity generation. According to the IEA and IRENA 1.5°C scenarios – on which the 35 % electrification goal is based – more than 75 % of electricity generated needs to come from renewables by 2035.
Crucially, ambition on renewables will mean nothing if emissions from coal, oil and gas continue to rise unchecked – something COP31 cannot afford to ignore. As Tuvalu’s Climate Minister Dr Maina Vakafua Talia said recently: “The survival of people is not determined by how many solar roof tops we put on … it’s determined by practical actions to not expand fossil fuel extraction”.
Electrification alone won’t solve the climate crisis – only ending fossil fuels will.
- Greenpeace International policy briefing: An electrification goal for a fossil-free future
- Greenpeace policy briefing: A just transition away from fossil fuels
Zero-waste vision must tackle production and trade of plastics as part of climate fight
Updated: 23 September
In his remarks at the opening session of the UNGA on 22nd September, Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan referenced the zero-waste movement as a bridge between different paths to tackle climate change.
In response, Berk Butan, Social and Economic Systems Campaigner at Greenpeace Türkiye said: ‘We support a true zero-waste vision as a vital global bridge and transformative lever in the fight against the climate crisis. However, to fully realise this potential, zero-waste must extend beyond downstream waste management to target the root causes of the crisis.
“To address the devastating impacts of plastic on climate, public health and biodiversity, we must tackle the issue at its true source: production and trade. The unchecked expansion of fossil fuel-based plastic production cannot be recycled away, nor should any country bear the environmental and social burden of the global plastic waste trade.
“Shifting pollution liabilities across borders through plastic waste imports, often disguised as recycling, only deepens environmental injustice and masks the necessity of production limits.
“Accordingly, to align with the 1.5°C climate target and protect our ecosystems and communities, we urgently call for an end to the global plastic waste trade that causes environmental and social harm and global action that cuts plastic production by at least 75 % by 2040.”
Why Türkiye needs to lead the way on the COP31 electrification goal
Updated: 23 September
At the start of New York Climate Week, Türkiye’s Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister, and COP31 President-designate, Murat Kurum launched the COP31 Presidency’s electrification pledge to increase electricity’s share of global final energy consumption needs to 35 % by 2035.
In response, Emel Türker Alpay, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Türkiye said: “We welcome the fact that the global electrification goal has now been turned into a formal global pledge by the COP31 Presidency. However, electrification cannot be an end in itself – it must actively displace fossil fuels as part of an equitable, affordable and people-centred transition to keep the 1.5°C goal alive.
“The absence of a concrete commitment to displace fossil fuels as part of the pledge is concerning. The impacts of our dependence on fossil fuels are clear and we must take urgent and clear steps now towards a just transition away from coal, oil and gas.
“For the electrification target to be a milestone securing 1.5°C, the transition away from fossil fuels as part of electricity generation must be accelerated. We must commit to rapidly increasing renewable electricity generation to at least 75 % by 2035.
“COP31 must connect a global electrification goal, national roadmaps and international support into one coherent implementation framework. If done correctly, it will turn electrification from a headline target into pathways that countries actually own: delivering the transition away from fossil fuels while advancing energy access, resilience and sustainable development while also showing that international cooperation can turn collective ambition into real, shared results.
“It is clear that the COP31 Presidency comes with a responsibility of keeping the 1.5°C target in sight. The electrification goal is a valuable step toward this direction but Türkiye must also lead by example and cancel new coal power plant projects, announce no new coal power plant commitments and set a date for the just transition away from coal.”
UNGA 2026 must restore trust and deliver on promises for African communities
Updated: 22 September
Dr Oulie Keita, Executive Director at Greenpeace Africa has highlighted the theme of this year’s UNGA is ‘Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All.’ But in attending this year’s UNGA, she argues that restoring trust will require more than climate promises because the continent has for too long failed its communities:
“Africa has heard decades of climate promises and the time has come to turn those promises into reality. Climate justice cannot remain a promise on paper. It must be felt in people’s lives, protected in their rights and visible in the opportunities they have to build a better future.
“Trust will not be restored through more commitments or pledges. It will be restored through action when people can see that global commitments are making a difference in their everyday lives. Climate commitments must become national policies and budgets too!
“Adaptation costs in sub-Saharan Africa have soared to an estimated US$30–50 billion annually over this decade, while public adaptation finance continues to fall short of what’s needed. UNGA81 must advance reforms that make climate finance easier to access, more predictable and more responsive to national and community needs.
“Third, a just transition away from fossil fuels must create economic opportunities for African people and not impose environmental obligations on an already struggling population. And it must ensure that those most responsible for the climate crisis carry their fair share of the cost.”
What’s next for the COP30 Presidency’s roadmap initiative for the transition away from fossil fuels?
Updated: 22 September
On the sidelines of the UNGA, we joined a meeting focused on the development of the global roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels led by Brazil, which they committed to develop at COP30. The roadmap presents an opportunity to advance national and international action to reduce barriers and improve enablers towards greater ambition.
The roadmap process helps bring hope in a moment of global crisis and is a timely initiative amid repeated climate impacts and after August became the joint hottest month on record. The question now is how to create a global follow-up process of implementation and support.
Brazil’s COP30 Presidency is set to deliver two global roadmaps: one on eliminating our dependency on fossil fuels and one to end deforestation. Nationally, Brazil is also set to develop a national roadmap regarding the transition away from fossil fuels.
Greenpeace is urging all countries to develop and implement ambitious national roadmaps and implement them without delay, with developed countries leading the way. We need clear plans to transition away from fossil fuels and eliminate and reverse deforestation across the globe. Crucially, this transition must be fast, fair and funded, and just for all.
A just transition away from fossil fuels protects vulnerable workers, communities and regions. It also promotes local solutions and ensures clean energy access without leaving anyone behind. Ending deforestation similarly requires protecting and recognising the vital roles of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. They remain the primary guardians of our planet’s vital ecosystems. Protecting their rights and forests preserves biodiversity, secures human livelihoods worldwide and provides climate resilience.
We cannot solve modern crises using antiquated, destructive models. Replacing fossil fuels creates new economic opportunities across all sectors. Protecting nature ensures food security, clean water, and stable environments. Cooperation must replace competition on the path to sustainability, which must include sufficient public finance provided by developed countries to developing countries. Part of this finance could and should be raised by taxing fossil fuel corporations and the super-rich. The time for passive commitments has passed. A safe future requires bold action and decisive policy shifts from all countries now.
Why are campaigners calling on governments to make polluters pay?
Updated: 22 September
At New York Climate Week and as world leaders started gathering for the UNGA, the Make Polluters Pay International Coalition – including Greenpeace International, 350.org, Oxfam International and GreenFaith – presented more than two million petition signatures to UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Action, Selwin Hart, alongside frontline campaigners and communities. The demand: make fossil-fuel companies pay for the climate damage they have caused.
From a blocked Strait of Hormuz to glacial collapse in Nepal and damaging wildfires across Europe, our dependence on fossil fuels is destabilising our economies with energy shocks and repeat climate disasters. Households carry these burdens of spiking energy bills and climate losses as the companies responsible rake in extraordinary profits. We pay. They profit.
In a global survey conducted by Greenpeace International and Oxfam International, more than eight in 10 people back taxing oil and gas companies to pay for their climate damages. The UN’s outgoing Secretary-General, António Guterres, has repeatedly pressed the same case.
Campaigners are now calling for binding measures: permanent surtaxes on fossil fuel profits, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and fines ring-fenced for recovery and adaptation in the communities hit hardest. So, what’s next for the Make Polluters Pay campaign?
The pressure now shifts to COP31 and, from late November in Nairobi, the next round of the Global Tax Treaty – the world’s first truly democratic process to reform global tax rules for people and the planet. It is a pathway to clamping down on tax-dodging and making the fossil fuel industry and ultra-rich polluters pay their fair share, reclaiming the money to fund our communities, renewable energy and public services. The money exists and political momentum is growing. It’s up to us to keep up the pressure.
Why Australia must ensure COP31 accelerates the transition away from fossil fuels
Updated: 21 September
Ahead of the UNGA General Debate, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered a speech at the opening of New York Climate Week, titled: ‘The New Stakes: climate security is national security’. In response, Dr Simon Bradshaw, COP31 Lead for Greenpeace Australia Pacific said:
“It is encouraging to see the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledging the immediate and profound climate threat to communities in the Pacific, Australia and worldwide, and the need to work together, with bravery and compassion. Now we must match those words with real action to phase out fossil fuels.
“Earlier this month in Palau, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed to help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and defend the crucial goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C. However, Australia continues to undermine its aspirations for global climate leadership by expanding fossil fuel production, approving 37 coal and gas projects since elected.
“Australia fought hard for the privilege to chair the next round of global climate negotiations in partnership with the Pacific. The world is crying out for a clear vision and leadership from Australia as we head towards COP31 in Antalya. Australia must ensure COP31 boosts our shared security by accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels — get this right, and Australia will emerge as a responsible middle power and force for good in troubled times.”
