UN Secretary-General Urges Ban on Fossil Fuel Ads as Planet Warms

(Bloomberg) -- Urging world leaders to take “an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday said the battle for a livable planet will be won or lost in the next few years, and that companies and countries must take swift, dramatic action to lower greenhouse gas emissions and quit fossil fuels.

“It’s climate crunch time,” he said in a special address on climate change delivered at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Echoing previous speeches, Guterres called on fossil fuel companies to boost their clean energy investments and for financial institutions “to stop bankrolling fossil fuel destruction and start investing in a global renewables revolution.” Then he went a step further by urging advertising, media and big tech companies to “stop taking fossil fuel advertising” and countries to “ban advertising from fossil fuel companies,” given that “many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action — with lobbying, legal threats, and massive ad campaigns.”

Guterres also urged more action on “the demand side of fossil fuels,” noting that individuals can make a difference by embracing low-carbon technologies and pushing for political change. 

“Doubling down on fossil fuels in the 21st century is like doubling down on horseshoes and carriage-wheels in the 19th,” said Guterres.

Michael Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, introduced Guterres at the event on Wednesday. Michael Bloomberg is the majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

The speech comes the same day the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that May was the hottest May on record, marking the 12th consecutive month of record-breaking temperatures. On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization also announced there’s an 80% likelihood that the annual average global temperature rise, over preindustrial levels, will temporarily exceed 1.5C at least once in the next five years. 2023 was the hottest year on record, with last summer being the hottest summer in 2,000 years. 2024 could be even warmer.

“WMO is sounding the alarm that we will be exceeding the 1.5C level on a temporary basis with increasing frequency,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett in a prepared statement. Barrett added, however, that “temporary breaches do not mean that the 1.5C goal is permanently lost because this refers to long-term warming over decades.”

Guterres said it’s still not too late to keep warming below that Paris Agreement threshold: “The 1.5 degree limit is still just about possible.” And staying under it is critical for humanity, he said. “The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities. The difference between minimizing climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points.”

With major global summits, including the United Nations General Assembly and COP29, approaching, “we need maximum ambition, maximum acceleration and maximum cooperation,” he said. “In a word, maximum action.”

(Updates with May temperature record and further comments from Guterres.)

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