United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres Exploding fossil fuel companies This week for their attempts to justify continued oil and gas production as “interfering with human survival.”
The energy industry aims to deal with greenhouse emissions through Capturing and storing them, rather than phasing out production, undermines climate progress, Guterres said at the climate change conference in Bonn, Germany.
“The problem isn’t just fossil fuel emissions. It’s fossil fuels, period,” he said. “We are heading towards disaster, our eyes are wide open, and many people are willing to bet everything on wishful thinking, unproven technologies and silver bullets.”
Guterres poured cold water on the idea that carbon capture and storage technology would allow for continued oil and gas production, saying it would make them “more efficient destroyers of the planets.”
The Secretary-General also called on financial institutions to stop financing fossil fuel projects, calling on banks that have already begun to do so “not to be complacent in the face of attacks on progress.”
His remarks came as leaders from nearly 200 countries wrapped up two weeks of climate talks in Bonn, five months ahead of the COP28 climate summit in the oil-producing United Arab Emirates.
ETFs: (New York: XLE), (XOP), (VDE), (OIH), (XES), (IEZ)
More climate-related analysis: