NEW YORK, 25th September, 2026 (WAM) -- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on the Group of 77 and China to continue their efforts to advance justice, development and peace amid escalating conflicts, a worsening climate crisis, widening inequalities and slowing progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaking at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group of 77 at the United Nations headquarters on Friday, Guterres said the quest for justice must continue at a time when conflicts are raging in several regions, ceasefires are being broken, human rights and international law are being flouted, climate chaos is worsening, inequalities are deepening, and the world is lagging behind in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
He stressed that development is the ultimate driver of equality, human dignity, prosperity and peace.
The Secretary-General identified four key areas of justice, beginning with financial justice, noting that developing countries are facing growing debt burdens and need an additional US$4 trillion per year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Guterres called on multilateral development banks to significantly scale up investment, and urged their shareholders to accelerate reforms, provide fresh capital, expand concessional finance and unlock private investment. He also called for increased participation and weight for developing countries across the international financial architecture to bring it in line with today’s global economy.
He noted that more than 100 G77 countries are supporting or spearheading initiatives under the Sevilla Platform for Action, calling on the group to continue leading efforts to reform global economic governance, including the Borrowers Platform and negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.
On climate justice, Guterres said the climate crisis is hitting developing countries hardest, with extreme heat, floods, droughts, storms and rising seas destroying lives and livelihoods and eroding hard-won development gains.
He called for a tripling of adaptation finance, far greater resources for loss and damage that are accessible, predictable and at the scale required, and effective early warning systems to protect every person in the world.
He stressed the need to ensure that developing countries benefit from the renewable energy revolution, noting that clean energy now attracts twice as much investment as fossil fuels, but that the benefits are not being shared equally.
Guterres said Africa has 60 per cent of the planet’s best solar potential but receives just two per cent of global clean energy investments. He called for affordable finance for renewable energy projects, electricity grids and storage, as well as the responsible management of critical minerals in a way that benefits and adds value in producing countries first.
He stressed that the clean energy transition must reduce global inequalities rather than reproduce them.
On technological justice, Guterres stressed that artificial intelligence should benefit all countries, not only those that can afford it, warning against allowing the technology to perpetuate existing inequalities.
He expressed appreciation for the G77’s support for the establishment of an Independent International Scientific Panel and a Global Dialogue on AI Governance to give all countries an equal voice, stressing the importance of the group's support for establishing a global fund for AI Capacity Development.