World’s addiction to fossil fuels is ‘Frankenstein’s monster’, says UN chief

The world’s addiction to fossil fuels is a “Frankenstein’s monster sparing nothing and no one”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.

“Our fossil fuel addiction is a Frankenstein’s monster, sparing nothing and no one. All around us, we see clear signs that the monster has become master,” Guterres said in a speech days after 2024 was revealed to have been the hottest year on record and Donald Trump began his second term as US president by pulling the country out of the Paris climate agreement and pledging to “drill, baby, drill” for more oil and gas. The fossil fuel industry gave $75m (£60m) to Trump’s campaign.

Guterres said: “What we are seeing today – sea-level rise, heatwaves, floods, storms, droughts and wildfires – are just a preview of the horror movie to come.”

He also told the leaders of major banks, many of whom pulled out of climate agreements before Trump returned to office, that they were “on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of science and the wrong side of consumers who are looking for more sustainability, not less”.

He said the same warning applied to “the fossil fuel industry and advertising, lobbying and PR companies who are aiding, abetting and greenwashing”. But he pointed to the “extraordinary economic opportunity” of renewable energy, “that will benefit people in every country and make the end of the fossil fuel age inevitable – no matter how hard vested interests try to stop it”.

Guterres highlighted the “grim irony” of analysis revealed by the Guardian in January: “Thirteen of the world’s biggest ports for oil supertankers will be overwhelmed by rising sea levels. Rising seas, which are caused by rising temperatures. And rising temperatures, which are – overwhelmingly – caused by burning fossil fuels.”

Last year was the hottest year on record, and there were record emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas. It was also the first year to tip over the 1.5C temperature rise that was set as a long-term limit by the Paris agreement. “It means we need to fight even harder to get on track,” Guterres said.

“Global heating is racing forward – we cannot afford to move backward,” he said. Trump has also halted offshore wind power developments and targets for electric cars.

Guterres urged governments to keep their Paris agreement promise to produce new national climate action plans by February, well ahead of the next major UN climate summit, Cop30 in Brazil. “We also need a surge in finance for climate action in developing countries, to adapt to global heating, slash emissions and seize the benefits of the renewables revolution,” he said.

“To the corporate leaders who remain committed to climate action, your leadership is needed now more than ever,” he said. “Do not back down. Stay on the right side of history. Now is the time to shift our collective efforts into overdrive, and make 2025 the biggest year yet for climate action.”

The alternative, he said, was a “world where every economy feels the pain, of supply chains severed, of infrastructure destroyed, of higher prices and higher insurance premiums – or no insurance at all”. The dwindling availability of affordable property insurance in the face of increasing climate disasters is a rapidly rising concern in the US.

Prof Mark Maslin, a climatologist at University College London, said: “Trump may slow down the transition away from fossil fuels and allow other countries to delay action. But the writing is on the wall both politically and economically for fossil fuels. It is when, not if, fossil fuels cease to be used as an energy source.”