UN Advocates Ban of Fossil Fuel Ads to Save Climate
The United Nations has said that the world's fossil fuel industries should be banned from advertising to help save the world from climate change.
UN Secretary General António Guterres called coal, oil and gas corporations the “godfathers of climate chaos” who had distorted the truth and deceived the public for decades.
He said fossil fuel advertising should be banned just as tobacco advertising was, due to its health risks. His remarks were his strongest condemnation yet of the industries driving most of global warming. This comes as new studies show the rate of warming is increasing and global heat records continue to be broken.
Data from the EU's climate service confirms that each of the past 12 months set a new global temperature record for the time of year. These high temperatures were driven by human-caused climate change, with a small boost from the El Niño climate phenomenon.
While a fading El Niño might soon pause the record-breaking sequence of months, long-term temperatures will continue to rise due to emissions of planet-warming gases from human activities. Last year was the hottest on record, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday that the record could be broken again this year.
Separately, a group of about 50 leading scientists reported that the rate of global warming caused by humans continues to increase. They found that ongoing high emissions of warming gases are pushing the world closer to breaching the symbolic 1.5°C warming mark on a long-term basis.
To prevent this, the UN Secretary-General has called for more rapid political action on climate change and a crackdown on the fossil fuel industry. “We must directly confront those in the fossil fuel industry who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress for decades,” he said. He also accused many in the oil, gas, and coal industries of “shameless greenwashing” through lobbying, legal action, and massive advertising campaigns.
“I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies,” he told an audience in New York.
“And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising.”
In response, representatives of fossil fuel groups said they were committed to reducing their emissions.
“Our industry is focused on continuing to produce affordable, reliable energy while tackling the climate challenge, and any allegations to the contrary are false,” said Megan Bloomgren, Senior Vice President of Communications at the American Petroleum Foundation.
