Countries Pursuing Oil and Gas ‘Signing Away Our Future,’ UN Chief Tells Pacific Islands

Antonio Guterres told the opening of the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga that any fossil fuels discovered now ‘will never be used.’

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech during a banquet dinner with Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa (not pictured) at Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in Apia on August 22, 2024. (Photo by Manaui Faulalo / AFP) Photo by MANAUI FAULALO/AFP via Getty Images

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga with a speech that accused governments that issued new oil and gas licences of “signing away our future.”

Several low-lying Pacific nations are at risk from rising sea levels, so the message has particular resonance at this event, which is being held in Tonga’s capital of Nuku'alofa.