With global transport at a crossroads, government leaders, industry experts, and civil society groups are meeting in Beijing, China, for a UN conference to chart the way forward to a more sustainable future for the sector, and greater climate action overall. The two-day UN Sustainable Transport Conference will examine how transportation can contribute to climate response, economic growth and sustainable development. In remarks to the opening, UN Secretary-General António Guterres underlined what is at stake. “The next nine years must see a global shift towards renewable energy. Sustainable transport is central to that transformation,” he said.  

Inclusion is fundamental to rebuild societies in the wake of war and achieve durable peace, UN Secretary-General told world leaders, ambassadors and prominent global citizens meeting in the Security Council. The UN chief addressed an open debate on diversity, statebuilding and the search for peace, organized by Kenya, which holds the rotating Council presidency for October. “For countries emerging from the horrors of conflict and looking to a better future - indeed for all countries - diversity must not be seen as a threat. It is a source of strength,” the Secretary-General said. 

Amidst a growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, on Monday UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the world to take action during a “make or break moment” for the country. “If we do not act and help Afghans weather this storm, and do it soon, not only they but all the world will pay a heavy price”, Mr. Guterres told journalists in New York, ahead of Tuesday, when G20 leading industrialized nations will meet to discuss the nation embroiled in crisis.

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic must be sustainable and inclusive, Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks to a major UN trade conference which opened in Barbados, unveiling “an urgent four-point debt crisis action plan.” Warning that uneven recovery is leaving much of the world behind, Mr. Guterres urged greater support for vulnerable nations as they tackle the challenges of debt distress, lack of investment, unfair trade and the climate emergency.

UN Secretary-General said he was committed to ensuring that the Organisation is a place where “youth voices are heard, and their ideas lead”, as he spent the day in Barbados which tomorrow hosts a major UN conference on trade and development, focused on the need to build a global green economy and recover equitably from the COVID-19 pandemic. António Guterres arrived in the Caribbean island nation on Saturday and will be addressing the hybrid format UNCTAD15 conference which begins on Monday, under the theme, From inequality and vulnerability, to prosperity for all.