London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Our fossil fuel addiction must end, UN chief tells World Economic Forum

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, used his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday to urge world leaders and businesses to expand their efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.

He also called on business leaders to provide “credible and transparent” plans by the end of the year on how they intend to achieve net-zero.

Guterres warned that many businesses had set their climate targets based on “dubious or murky” criteria, which can “mislead consumers, investors and regulators with false narratives.”

“It feeds a culture of climate misinformation and confusion and leaves the door open to ‘greenwashing,’” he told delegates at the WEF’s Annual Meeting.

“The transition to net-zero must be grounded in real emissions cuts and not rely essentially on carbon credits and shadow markets. That is why we (the UN) created an Expert Group on Net-Zero Emissions Commitments.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 18, 2023.

Guterres warned that time is running out to prevent disasters linked to man-made climate from growing in scale and frequency.

“We are looking into the eye of a Category 5 storm,” he added.

To avert the worst effects of climate change, scientists say any rise in global temperatures must be limited to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The average surface temperature of the planet has already increased by about 1.8 C since the late 1800s.

Guterres urged the world to “end the addiction to fossil fuels,” warning that the aspirational goal of limiting warming to 1.5 C was “going up in smoke.”

“Fossil fuel producers and their enablers are still racing to expand production, knowing full well that this business model is inconsistent with human survival,” he said.

“This insanity belongs in science fiction, yet we know the ecosystem meltdown is cold, hard scientific fact.”

The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 196 countries at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, COP21, committed nations to scaling up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent before 2030.

It also obliged them to build resilience against the adverse effects of climate change, uphold and promote regional and international cooperation in efforts to limit global warming to the 1.5 C target, and to reach net-zero by 2050.

To date, 137 countries have committed to achieving carbon neutrality, as tracked by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, an independent advisory organization in the UK. Of those, 124 have set targets for 2050.

Bhutan and Suriname are the only two nations to date that have achieved carbon neutrality and are, in fact, carbon negative. Twenty-four countries have set their climate targets as official policy. They include Brazil, China, Germany and the US, which are some of the world’s largest emitters. Five countries are preparing legislation, including Canada, South Korea and several EU member states.

However, even if the 193 parties to the Paris Agreement implement their existing commitments, it is estimated that global greenhouse gas emissions would still increase by almost 11 percent by 2030, compared with 2010.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×