UN secretary-general António Guterres has asked world leaders to remove oil and gas from the energy mix and stop further exploration, with greenhouse gases “cooking our planet”.
Guterres, speaking from Tonga during a meeting of Pacific Island leaders at the start of this week, said “rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making” and will soon “swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety”.
He added that big polluters have a responsibility to cut emissions, particularly in the Pacific, which Guterres described as “the most vulnerable area of the world”.
According to multiple news sources, he said that small islands “don’t contribute to climate change, but everything that happens because of climate change is multiplied here”.
He stated that without serious cuts to emissions, the Pacific Islands can expect at least 15cm of additional sea level rise by 2050.
In June, Guterres also called for a ban on advertising for oil, gas and coal companies. This came after international climate monitors linked to the EU released new reports indicating that the planet is in deep environmental trouble.
“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,” Guterres said at the time.
The Portuguese politician and diplomat referred to fossil fuel companies as the “godfathers of climate chaos” that rake in “record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies”.
Well over a year ago, Guterres told fossil fuel producers that they must “set a credible course for net zero”.
As part of longer speech, he delivered a “special message” to fossil fuel providers stating “if you cannot set a credible course for net zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business. Your core product is our core problem.”
However, on Monday, oil giant Exxon Mobil said it expects crude demand to stay above 100 million barrels per day until 2050, with the introduction of electric vehicles having little impact on global demand.
