Change Course by 2020 or Risk Runaway Climate Change
UN Chief Gives the World Two Years to Avoid 'Runaway Climate Change'; the UN Then Issues a Fresh Deadline
In 2018 the UN chief gave the world until 2020 to change course or risk missing the point where runaway climate change could be avoided. The deadline passed.
What was said
“If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us.”
— Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General (speech in New York) · said Sep 10, 2018 · due 2020 (deadline to change course)
Busted. The 2020 deadline passed, runaway climate change didn't arrive, and the UN moved on to fresh deadlines (see Stiell's 'two years', 2024).
The fine print
Speech at UN headquarters, 10 September 2018, covered under headlines like Al Jazeera's 'World must prevent runaway climate change by 2020'. In the same speech he asked leaders to 'stop the increase in emissions by 2020'. Scored as busted: the speech and its coverage set 2020 as the deadline, and the 'risk' wording doesn't make it a draw under the site's rule (judge the claim as said and promoted at the time).
Sources
- Guterres: World must prevent runaway climate change by 2020 - Al Jazeeraaccessed 2026-09-29
- UN / Guterres Climate Change (10 Sep 2018) - UN Audiovisual Libraryaccessed 2026-09-29