01/20/2023 at 17:59 CET
Antonio Guterres speaks out about the ‘lies’ of big business and Greta Thunberg demands they stop looking for deposits
Two people in seemingly as distant positions as climate activist Greta Thunberg and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have coincided this week by unnuancedly criticizing the actions of the big oil companies who continue to struggle to increase their production and thus their emissions into the atmosphere, jeopardizing the future of humanity. The World Summit in Davos was the scene of these messages.
The accused on Wednesday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Big Oil Companies Spreading a ‘Big Lie’ about its role in global warming, days after the release of a study that showed the US giant Exxon Mobile It had accurate reports 40 years ago of the damage its activity was causing to the atmosphere, and yet it ignored them.
“Some fossil fuel producers in the 1970s were fully aware that their flagship product was going to burn up the planet. But, like the tobacco industry, they paid little attention to their own science. Some oil giants sold a big lie,” the UN chief said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Guterres, in his speech in Davos | Portal
“Like the tobacco industry, those responsible need to be held accountable,” he added, citing the $246 billion that tobacco companies in the United States had to pay to 46 states over a 25-year period in 1998 to meet the cost of… cure to cover smokers.
The case of ExxonMobil, who knew what was going to happen
In the 1980s, ExxonMobil had its own scientists make highly accurate global warming predictions that came true just a few decades later, according to a study published last week in the prestigious journal Science.
For years, however, the company doubted scientific findings on the subject.noted the publication.
Currently the producers of fossil fuels and those who support them keep fighting to increase production, knowing that their economic model is incompatible with human survival” Guterres said in Davos.
Exxon Factory | PA
“This madness sounds like science fiction, although we know that the collapse of the ecosystem is pure and hard scientific fact,” said the person responsible. We are on the brink of a “climate catastrophe,” he warned.
general, the UN Secretary-General criticized the “dubious” or “obscure & rdquor; by many companies about their goal of zero carbon emissions.
This “misleads consumers, investors and regulators with false information,” he reiterated, alluding to corporate green image-washing campaigns.
Greta Thunberg: Corporations and governments ‘feeding destruction’
Meanwhile, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg accused participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday of “feeding the destruction of the planet” in an off-the-book event.
“We are doing it right now Davos, which is basically where the people who are most feeding the destruction of the planet are‘ he assured.
“These are people who At the heart of the climate crisis are the people investing in fossil fuelsetc., and yet in a way they are the people we seem to trust to solve our problems,” he added.
The 20-year-old Swede took part in a debate along with three other young activists – Helena Gualinga from Ecuador, Vanessa Nakate from Uganda and Luisa Neubauer from Germany –in a panel organized by the CNBC network in which the Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA)Fatih Birol.
“Without massive outside public pressure, these people will go as far as they can.”
Thunberg reiterated that change must come from the bottom up. “Without massive outside public pressure, these people will go as far as they can as long as they can get away with it.he explained, and “they will continue to invest in fossil fuels”.
For his part, the President of the International Energy Agency said the energy sector must be transformed or “we will have no chance of achieving our climate goals”.
The four activists and the President of the International Energy Agency | Portal
The four prominent climate activists They called on the CEOs of Davos fossil fuel energy companies to stop opening new quarries and stop blocking the transition to clean energy.
“Stop opening new oil, gas or coal wells immediately and stop blocking the clean energy transition we all so desperately need,” they said in an open letter.
In the message that they shared on social networks and that the next day already had more than 850,000 signatures, They accuse the big oil companies of “knowing for decades that fossil fuels are causing catastrophic climate change”.
From “mislead the public about climate science and risks” and also “deceiving politicians with misinformation, sowing doubts and causing delays”.
For all these reasons, they are urging the above leaders to put an end to these activities as they constitute “a direct violation.” of the human right “to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and they must also take care of the rights of indigenous peoples”.
And they warn: “If you don’t act now, remember that citizens around the world will consider taking legal action to hold you accountable.” And we will continue to protest in large numbers in the streets & rdquo ;.
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