Guterres Slams Oil Giants Over Climate Profits at UN High-Level Meeting
Outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched one of his sharpest attacks yet on the fossil fuel industry this week, accusing major global oil companies of treating the atmosphere like an “open sewer” while profiting handsomely from the consequences of climate change. The remarks came Tuesday during the UN’s high-level meeting at the General Assembly in New York, in what was described as a withering critique of the energy sector.
Guterres argued that fossil fuel interests would never voluntarily step aside from their current business model, framing decades of industry behaviour as a deliberate pattern of environmental disregard paired with financial gain. He said Big Oil had long treated the atmosphere as a dumping ground and profited from the fallout, a characterization he underscored with specific financial figures. According to Guterres, five major Western oil companies have collectively pocketed nearly half a trillion dollars in profits since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a figure he contrasted sharply with the mere $34 billion in financing that has been mobilised globally to help developing countries adapt to a warming climate.
The UN chief extended his criticism beyond corporate profits to everyday economic pressures, noting that ordinary people are simultaneously paying more for energy, food, and insurance even as the industry posts outsized earnings. He drew a direct comparison between what he called the fossil fuel industry’s abuse of power and the historical conduct of Big Tobacco, an industry long criticised for concealing known health risks from the public while continuing to profit from its products.
Despite the severity of his critique, Guterres also struck a note of cautious optimism, pointing to the global expansion of solar and wind energy as evidence that meaningful change remains possible. He highlighted that renewables have now become the cheapest source of energy in most parts of the world, framing the shift as proof that the dangers of climate change, while real, are matched by genuine grounds for hope.
The comments arrive against a sobering backdrop for global climate policy. The United Nations has warned that the world is likely to temporarily exceed the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a threshold long treated as a critical marker in international climate negotiations. Guterres’s remarks reflect a continuation of the strong stance on climate change that has defined much of his tenure as Secretary-General, a role from which he is expected to depart in the coming period.
He is set to make what may be one of his final major interventions on the issue this week, when he hosts a dedicated climate summit ahead of the COP31 negotiations scheduled for November in Antalya, Turkey. That summit is expected to further test whether world leaders can translate rhetorical urgency into binding commitments, particularly around financing for climate adaptation in developing nations, an area Guterres has repeatedly flagged as dangerously underfunded relative to the profits still being generated by the fossil fuel industry.
With COP31 on the horizon and pressure mounting on oil majors to justify their continued profitability amid worsening climate impacts, Guterres’s blunt characterization of the industry is likely to keep the debate over corporate accountability for climate change firmly in the international spotlight in the weeks ahead.
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