By Ezaruku Draku Franklin

The UN Secretary General General Antonio Guterres has warned that fossil fuel producers without credible net zero targets should be kicked out of businesses. Speaking at the General Assembly meeting in New York, Guterres’ directly targeted fossil-fuel industry, warning that those without credible net zero targets should not be in business.

During it’s 77^th Session, Antonio Guterres outlined the key priorities for 2023 to ensure a safer, more sustainable world, warning that humanity is closer than ever to total global catastrophe.

“We have started 2023 staring down the barrel of a confluence of challenges unlike any other in our lifetimes.  Wars grind on.  The climate crisis burns on.  Extreme wealth and extreme poverty rage on,” the UN Chief said.

“The good news is that we know how to turn things around — on climate, on finance, on conflict resolution, on and on.  And we know that the costs of inaction far exceed the costs of action.  But the strategic vision — the long-term thinking and commitment – is missing,” he added.

The UN Chief however turned and directly confronted the fossil-fuel industry and its enablers, that time is up for them to put proper net zero targets or else they are doomed to lose.

“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 labelled fossil fuels as the core problem, and urged the need to turn to a renewables revolution, not a self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence.

Last week, a research report by BloombergNEF said the global investment in the low-carbon energy transition totaled $1.1 trillion in 2022 – a new record and a huge acceleration from the year before – as the energy crisis and policy action drove faster deployment of clean energy technologies.

According to the report, almost every sector covered in the report achieved a new record level of investment in 2022, including renewable energy, energy storage, electrified transport, electrified heat, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen and sustainable materials.

Guterres while touching on the importance of finance, said developed countries, at minimum, have to deliver on the commitments made at the latest COP and sais they must stop subsidizing fossil fuels and pivot investments to renewables.’