Ladies and gentlemen of the media, very good evening.   

It is a great pleasure to be back in India for this pivotal G20 summit.   

Let me begin by expressing my gratitude to India for the warm welcome – and my hope that India’s presidency of the G20 will help lead to the kind of transformative change our world so desperately needs, in line with the repeated commitment of India to act on the behalf of global South and its determination to pursue the development agenda.   

And I welcome the focus on One Earth, One Family, One Future.   

This phrase inspired by the Maha Upanishad finds profound resonance in today’s world: not just as a timeless ideal – but as an indictment of our times.   

Because if we are indeed one global family – we today resemble a rather dysfunctional one.   

Divisions are growing, tensions are flaring up, and trust is eroding – which together raise the spectre of fragmentation, and ultimately, confrontation.  

This fracturing would be deeply concerning in the best of times – but in our times, it spells catastrophe.  

Our world is in a difficult moment of transition. The future is multipolar – but our multilateral institutions reflect a bygone age.   

The global financial architecture is outdated, dysfunctional, and unfair. It requires deep, structural reform. And the same can be said about the United Nations Security Council.   

We need effective international institutions rooted in 21st century realities and based on the UN Charter and international law.   

That is why I have been advocating for bold steps to make those global institutions truly universal and representative of today’s realities, and more responsive to the needs of developing economies.   

We have no time to lose.  

Challenges stretch as far as the eye can see.  

The climate crisis is worsening dramatically – but the collective response is lacking in ambition, credibility, and urgency.   

Wars and conflicts are multiplying – but efforts to advance peace are faltering.   

New technologies are raising red flags – but actions to contain the risks remain too slow, and too piecemeal.   

Poverty, hunger, and inequalities are growing – but global solidarity is missing in action.   

I have come to the G20 with a simple but urgent appeal: we cannot go on like this. We must come together and act together for the common good.   

G20 leaders must show leadership in two priority areas.    

First, leadership on climate.   

The climate crisis is spiralling out of control.    

But G20 countries are in control.   

Together, G20 countries are responsible for 80 per cent of global emissions. 

Half-measures will not prevent full climate breakdown.   

Leadership means:   

Keeping the 1.5 degree goal alive.  

Rebuilding trust based on climate justice.   

And advancing a just and equitable transition to a green economy.   

I have put forward a Climate Solidarity Pact – in which big emitters make extra efforts to cut emissions; and wealthier countries support emerging economies to achieve this.   

And earlier this year, I presented a plan to super-charge these efforts through an Acceleration Agenda. 

It calls on developed countries to reach net-zero as close as possible to 2040, and emerging economies as close as possible to 2050. 

Phase out coal by 2030 in OECD countries and 2040 in all others. 

End all licensing or funding of new fossil fuel projects. 

And bring affordable electricity to everyone on earth while simultaneously reaching net-zero electricity by 2035 in developed countries and 2040 elsewhere. 

Leadership also means finally delivering on commitments to developing countries – by the developed world, including by meeting the $100 billion goal, doubling adaptation finance, replenishing the Green Climate Fund, and operationalizing the loss and damage fund created in the last COP. 

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, 

Second, the G20 must show leadership in saving the Sustainable Development Goals. 

I have put forward concrete measures that would yield immediate benefits. 

They include: 

An SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion per year. 

An effective debt workout mechanism to support payment suspensions, longer lending terms and lower rates on fairer terms to developing countries in distress. 

A meaningful capitalization and change in the business model of Multilateral Development Banks to be able to massively leverage private finance at reasonable cost to developing countries. 

A more substantive rechannelling of unused Special Drawing Rights to increase liquidity where it is needed most. 

And a shift in subsidies – away from fossil fuel to more sustainable and productive uses. 

Together, these actions would catalyse SDG progress and help developing economies invest in key transitions across energy, food systems, digital, education, health, decent jobs and social protection. 

All of this is within reach – but it will take all hands. 

No nation, no region, no group – not even the G20 – can do it alone. 

We must act together as one family to save our one earth and safeguard our one future. 

Thank you. 

Q: Himanshu Shekhar Mishra, NDTV: You've been repeatedly raising the challenges on the climate change front, and I remember you once said that climate change is running much faster than we are. Now, just ahead of the G20 summit, you have again raised this very important question and tried to flag this issue ahead of the G20 summit. 
What are your expectations from the G20 summit -- in the context of the points and the concerns and the challenges that you have mentioned on climate change? 

Secretary-General: My main expectation is that G20 countries assume their responsibilities. If there is climate change, 80% of the emissions have a lot to do with it, and 80% of the emissions come from G20 countries. 

So, G20 countries must assume leadership. Assume leadership in two fronts. First, in reducing emissions but second, in climate justice. Not all countries are equal. We need to find ways in which developed countries are able to support developing countries, but not only in the reduction of their emissions, but also in adaptation, in building resilience for their communities that are suffering the dramatic impacts of climate change just now. 

I came from the Africa Climate Summit. Twenty of the most dramatic hot spots in the world are in Africa, and Africa is the poorest continent.  So, there is a basic injustice that needs to be addressed, and at the same time, there is an essential ambition that needs to be assumed by G20 countries, in line with their responsibilities.  

Q: Yogita Limaye, BBC: My question is that the heads of State of two very powerful countries, who are also permanent members of the UN Security Council, are not attending. Why then do you expect this summit to be, or describe this summit, as pivotal?  

Secretary-General: Let's be clear. We are in a very challenging moment. We are facing an acceleration, a dramatic acceleration of climate change. We have the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and all its impacts around the world. We have new technologies, namely artificial intelligence, being developed in a way in which there is no global cooperation in order to be able to make sure that this development is for good, and the risks are known by everybody. So, this is an extremely challenging moment. So, countries must assume responsibilities independently of whether it's the president, or the prime minister, or the vice-president that comes.  

The responsibility is the responsibility of countries, and I expect the G20 to assume its responsibilities independently of who represents each country in this summit. 

Whatever the person that represents the country, the responsibility of the country is the same.  

Q: Vishu Adhana, ANI: My question is related to India's presidency. Do you see it has any potential to become, India has the potential to become the voice of the world, and especially of developing countries or underdeveloped nations? 

Secretary-General: I think it is fair to say that India has assumed during the G20 presidency the very strong priority of the development agenda, and at the same time, India has been doing everything possible to fully represent the interests of the global South in the preparation of this summit.  

Now, the results will be what they will be, and the responsibility is of the G20 in its entirety. But I think it is fair to say that India has indeed corresponded to its promise, not only to speak on behalf of the global South, but to put the development agenda in the centre of the G20 work.  

Q: Zhou Jiaxin, CGTN: You've addressed the challenges for the SDG Goals, realization of that, particularly when it comes to the developing countries, which is even more formidable. But there are worries about the mistrust, growing mistrust actually, that may pull the global South and…  

Secretary-General: The what? The mistrust?  

Zhou Jiaxin: Mistrust, mistrust, that may pull the global North and South further apart. So, scholars argue that not only if advanced technology by the North, and also these, as you said, the emission rules and also financial issues are facing other developing countries, and also the Ukraine crisis, kind of like in a context of ideological confrontation. So now we are expecting AU, the African Union, to join G20 to add some voices from this global South.  

How do you see the current multilateralism promising to unite the global North and South? And how will UN continue to address the reforms as the G20 host is now advocating more reforms of multilateralism?  

Secretary-General: One of the key aspects of what has been consistently my intervention in the recent past has been to say that facing enormous challenges in a world that is becoming more and more multipolar, we need a strengthened and reformed multilateralism.  

Some people think that if the world is multipolar, then peace will come by itself. It's not true. Europe was multipolar before the First World War, and in the absence of multilateral institutions of governance, the result was the First World War. So, multipolarity requires strong and reformed multilateral institutions.  

But when one looks at the Bretton Woods system, or when one looks at the Security Council of the United Nations, they do not reflect today's world. They reflect the world at the end of the Second World War, in 1945. Many things have changed. 

And let's not forget that when these institutions were created, the majority of African Union countries would not even exist as independent countries. They were still under colonial regimes. So, it is clear that if we want multilateral institutions to work properly, we need to adapt their structure, their organization, their power relations within them. We need to adapt them to reflect the reality of today. And this is true for the Security Council. It's true for the Bretton Woods institutions. It's true for institutions related to trade, to science, and to many other aspects. We need strengthened and reformed multilateralism to face the challenges of today and we cannot do it with institutions of the past. 

Q: Amit Bhardwaj, India Today:  You yourself said that the UN Security Council is outdated. And considering the situation of the present, the way India is voicing the voice of the global South, do you think that number one, there's need to broaden the UN Security Council, and India is a strong contender to become part of the UN Security Council?  

Secretary-General: It's not for me to define who will be in the Security Council. It's for Member States.  

It is obvious that India is today the country of the world with the largest population and it is obvious that India is a very important partner in the world multilateral system. 

But it's not for me to decide who's going to be in the Security Council. It is for me to say that I believe we need the reform of the Security Council to reflect the realities of today's world. 

Q: Divya A, Indian Express: Do you think India presently has the credibility to be a mediator in the Russia-Ukraine conflict?  

Secretary-General: I think that when you have a conflict, all efforts of mediation are extremely important. But I don't think we can blame India for the fact that the war is going on, is dragging on. I am not very hopeful that we'll have a peace solution in the immediate future. I believe the two parties are still decided to move on with the conflict. And, obviously, we need to pay tribute to all those that, with good intention, try to do everything possible for this dramatic situation to find an end.  

Q: Amritpal Singh, DD News India: You spoke about reform of multilateral institutions, saying they are institutions of the past and do not reflect the realities of the present. Is there now a need to put a timeline to the reform of these institutions? 

Secretary-General: There is a need to do it. I'm not sure if we'll get it. But I think it is urgent. When we see the challenges that we face and the existential nature of those challenges, I do not think we can waste time.  

Q: David Asta, EFE news agency:  What will be your message for the global South when you go to Cuba for the G77?  

Secretary-General: Well, my message is very clear. I think it is very important that the countries, the developing countries, fight in order to make sure that we reach the transformations that are needed in international systems to create the conditions for them to face the challenges and to be able to regain momentum in their development. And they need international solidarity and they need justice in international relations for that.  

But at the same time, a message to ask countries in the global South to adopt their own reforms to ensure good governance, to mobilize their own resources in order to guarantee that the Sustainable Development Goals become an effective priority in their own internal policies. 

Q: Rezaul Laskar, Hindustan Times: My question is, you flagged two very important issues, climate and SDGs, and that has been discussed a lot at the G20 meetings that we've had throughout the year. But also, we've seen that the Ukraine issue is one of the things that has come in the way of a joint declaration. Is it because of the dysfunctionality of the UN that bodies like the G20 are being asked to do more to handle conflicts like the Ukraine war? 

Secretary-General: It's easy to blame the UN for what the Member States do.  

But it was not the UN that invaded Ukraine. It was not the UN that created the conditions for this conflict. So, let's make things clear. The responsibilities of Member States must be assumed by Member States. And let's not make the UN the scapegoat of the failures or of the negative actions that are committed by Member States.  

Q: Shashank Mattoo, The Mint: So, you've called for a stimulus programme of about $500 billion in additional spending for developing countries. Are you optimistic that at this G20 or in the coming years, the developed countries will be able to mobilize that kind of funding for developing countries? You've led a Western European country yourself. Do you think there's any possibility of that happening? 

Secretary-General: First of all, before being optimistic or pessimistic, using an expression that I use many times of Jean Monnet, I'm determined. And first, it is possible to do it, and it's necessary to do it.  

Just to demonstrate how possible it is. If the Special Drawing Rights that were distributed, as you know, according to the quotas, and so developed countries benefited much more than developing countries, and there was a commitment to re-channel part of those Special Drawing Rights to countries in the global South.  

Now, imagine that beyond the $100 billion of rescheduling that was more or less promised, that it was possible -- and I believe it is possible, it's a matter of decision and assumption of solidarity -- to have an additional $100 billion put at the disposal of developing countries, and imagine that you use the multilateral development banks to do so.  

If you use the multilateral development banks to do so, each dollar you put in the capital of a multilateral development bank, or in the resources of a multilateral development bank, can be multiplied by five, with loans that, with excellent conditions, the multilateral development banks can obtain, and then transfer to developing countries. Five times $100 billion is $500 billion.  

So, this gives you an idea -- and there are many other measures that we need to think about -- how to mobilize the private finances through a new model, a new business model of multilateral development banks, giving more guarantees, being first risk-takers, instead of just making their own loans. And that, again, brings private finance at reasonable cost to developing countries.  

We have been asking for capitalization of the multilateral development banks. Everybody today recognizes, and in a report that was presented to the G20, there is a clear recognition of that need. Again, it's a multiplying effect.  

So, there are many ways to get it. It's a matter of political will, and we need to make sure that political will follows the needs that humanity has in a very dramatic moment, like the moment we are living together.