United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark new appeal to world leaders Wednesday morning: Put a stop to fossil fuel advertising.
Governments should ban fossil fuel ads, he said. Media and tech companies should stop selling them ad space. And advertisers should stop accepting new fossil fuel clients while making plans to drop their existing ones.
“Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet — they’re toxic for your brand,” he told the world’s advertising companies. “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.”
The swing at advertising was one of 33 recommendations Guterres outlined to help keep alive the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious target — halting global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
