UN demands countries ban advertising from fossil fuel companies

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday demanded governments ban advertising from companies that profit from fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and gas.

‘Ban advertising from fossil fuel companies’

Guterres made the remarks during a speech at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. The UN chief compared fossil fuel companies to tobacco corporations and accused them of causing climate change.

“We must directly confront those in the fossil fuel industry who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress,” Guterres demanded. “I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies.”

“Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet — they’re toxic for your brand,” he added. “Your sector is full of creative minds who are already mobilizing around this cause. They are gravitating towards companies that are fighting for our planet — not trashing it.”

Gutteres: ‘You should not be in business’

Guterres has been hoping to crack down on companies who fail to meet climate change goals. Last year, he called for such businesses to be banned.

“I have a special message for fossil fuel producers and their enablers scrambling to expand production and raking in monster profits. If you cannot set a credible course for net-zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business,” he said. (emphasis in original)

UN chief wants penalties for non-green companies

In a policy brief last May, Guterres urged governments to impose carbon taxes on businesses as a punitive measure. He demanded that countries penalize offending companies with “carbon pricing, fossil fuel taxes or other environmental taxes, or through direct regulations to prevent harmful activities, with fines and penalties larger than the potential profit.”

The secretary-general has also signaled that corporations should make climate change their main preoccupation. In the UN’s Our Common Agenda report, Guterres called on governments to place “climate action at the heart of the operation of markets and economies.”

“Climate change and environmental sustainability need to inform all aspects of the international financial architecture. Climate- and environment-related standards and metrics should inform business, finance, investment, and financial regulation including standards set at the international level. Systemic coherence is between environmental standard setting and economic management is essential,” said the report.

This will lead to more “climate financing” from private corporations, though Guterres laments that companies are only spending billions per year on “fighting climate change” and not trillions:

In addition, amounts mobilized from the private sector by official development finance total between $45 billion and $55 billion per year, overwhelmingly in middle-income countries. This falls well short of the call by the World Bank in 2015 for financing “from billions to trillions”, raising questions as to the effectiveness of the current model for leveraging private finance.