UN Secretary-General Calls for Ban on Fossil Fuel Advertising, Says Next 18 Months Are Critical for Climate Action

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By Keerti Gopal, Inside Climate News. 

Excerpt: In a special address, António Guterres called out fossil fuel industry greenwashing and highlighted a new report showing the world will likely pass the 1.5 degree Celsius warming threshold within five years. ...“Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities,” Guterres said in his address, delivered on the United Nations’ World Environment Day at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. “Meanwhile, the godfathers of climate chaos—the fossil fuel industry—rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies.” Comparing the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry, Guterres also called on public relations and advertising firms to “stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction,” by dropping fossil fuel clients from their rosters. ...Pointing out that the oil and gas industry invested just 2.5 percent of its total capital spending in renewable energy, he also called on fossil fuel companies to use their “massive profits” to lead the clean energy transition.... 

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