Advertising for Fossil-Fuel Companies Should be Restricted
“Many governments restrict or prohibit advertising for products that harm human health, like tobacco,” he said. “I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil-fuel companies. And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil-fuel advertising.”
Source: Freepik
Guterres cited new data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), revealing an 80% chance that the planet will exceed 1.5°C (2.7°F) of warming above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years.
Average Global Temperatures on the Rise
The past 12 months already saw average global temperatures 1.63°C (2.9°F) higher than the pre-industrial average, with a series of record-breaking hot months, according to the European Union’s Copernicus monitoring system.
Source: Freepik
The 2015 Paris climate agreement aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C to prevent severe impacts like heatwaves, floods, and droughts. While a single year above this threshold doesn’t mean the target is lost, scientists expect this limit will be consistently breached within the next decade.
Playing “Russian Roulette”
The WMO estimates a roughly 50-50 chance that the period from 2024 to 2028 will average above 1.5°C in global warming.
Source: Freepik
“We are playing Russian roulette with our planet,” Guterres warned, speaking under a suspended 94-foot model of a blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History. “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.”
Putting Ourselves in Danger
Referencing the venue, Guterres stated, “Like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact. In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs – we are the meteor. We are not only in danger – we are the danger.”
Source: Freepik
Guterres emphasized that keeping the 1.5°C target is “still just about possible” but requires significant efforts to reduce carbon emissions, increase climate finance for poorer countries, and ostracize the fossil-fuel industry for its role in the crisis.
Inequity of Climate Change
“The godfathers of climate chaos – the fossil-fuel industry – rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies,” he said. “It is a disgrace that the most vulnerable are being left stranded, struggling desperately to deal with a climate crisis they did nothing to create.
Source: Freepik
“We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unlivable lands.”
Minimal Investment in Cleaner Energy
Guterres criticized fossil-fuel companies for their minimal investment in cleaner energy and for misleading the public about climate science. He called for government bans on fossil-fuel advertising and urged media and PR companies to cut ties with these industries.
Source: Marcin Jozwiak/Unsplash
“I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction. Stop taking on new fossil-fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones. Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet – they’re toxic for your brand.”
American Petroleum Institute Disagrees
Megan Bloomgren, senior vice-president of communications at the American Petroleum Institute responded to these criticisms.
Source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“Our industry is focused on continuing to produce affordable, reliable energy while tackling the climate challenge, and any allegations to the contrary are false.”
Polluters vs Profiteers
Guterres praised the growth in clean energy, noting record levels in wind, solar, and other renewables, and predicted that “economic logic makes the end of the fossil-fuel age inevitable.” However, he stressed the need for faster phase-out of fossil fuels by governments.
Source: rorozoa, Freepik
“It’s ‘we, the peoples’ versus the polluters and the profiteers,” he said. “Together, we can win. But it’s time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on.”
World Leaders will Gather To Tackle the Climate Crisis
The speech aimed to reignite focus on the climate crisis amid global conflicts and economic challenges. Upcoming meetings, including the G7 in Italy, November’s COP29 in Azerbaijan, and a G20 gathering in Brazil, are crucial.
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Countries are preparing new emission reduction pledges for 2035, due next year.
“Bleak Reality”
Despite rising emissions reaching new record levels last year, there’s hope that this represents a peak. However, Ko Barrett, WMO secretary-general, highlighted the “bleak reality” that the world is off track to meet Paris Agreement goals.
Source: Freepik
Efforts to triple renewable electricity generation by 2030 are also lagging, though deployment rates are improving.
Impacts of Climate Change Already Seen Worldwide
Meanwhile, the impacts of the climate crisis are increasingly evident, with recent severe heatwaves in India and the US and flooding in southern Brazil, which a study found was at least twice as likely due to human-caused climate change.
Source: Jéan Béller/Unsplash
“The problem is now urgent, and we can’t say we need to do something about it in the future, we need to take action now,” said Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “The earlier we start making big cuts to emissions, the earlier we can start making a difference.”