UN Secretary General Guterres distributes billions in profits “morally unacceptable”

afp | UN Secretary-General António Guterres has described the billions in profits made by energy companies as a result of high crude oil and natural gas prices as “morally unacceptable”. “Governments must protect the interests of their populations – not the interests of a group of companies,” Guterres told the AFP news agency on Thursday on the sidelines of the UN climate conference in Antalya, Turkey. At the same time, he denounced governments such as that of the host country Türkiye for new projects in the field of fossil fuels: These made “no sense at all”.

The outgoing UN Secretary-General said it was “absurd” that nine major energy companies made $95 billion (almost €86 billion) in profits in one quarter due to rising crude oil and natural gas prices, while many people were struggling to pay heating and fuel bills. Guterres acknowledged that these were “entrenched interests” that were “not easy to defeat.”

The British oil company BP, among others, announced at the end of October that it had quadrupled its net profit from July to September due to high crude oil prices as a result of the Iran war: This rose from $1.16 billion in the same quarter of the previous year to $4.7 billion. Shell in Great Britain and TotalEnergies in France also reported billions in third-quarter profits at the end of October. TotalEnergies' profit increased to a record $8.3 billion - more than twice as much as in the same quarter last year.

Guterres, whose term ends on December 31, has repeatedly criticized oil and gas companies in the past. The COP31 climate conference in Antalya is his last as UN Secretary General. In his speech at the opening of the summit of heads of state and government at the climate conference on Wednesday, he sharply called for a move away from fossil fuels: These would have to “go the way of the dinosaurs,” which died out millions of years ago. “The dinosaurs didn’t have a lobby, but fossil fuels did,” said the 77-year-old.

In an interview with the AFP news agency, Guterres also sharply criticized the COP31 host country Türkiye. “New fossil energy projects make no sense at all,” said the Portuguese. “Of course, I would like all countries participating in this COP to take this stance – including the organizers.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdooğan announced the discovery of two new oil fields in his country on Monday and spoke of “good news” – parallel to the start of the climate conference. In addition to Turkey, which is hosting the UN climate conference, Australia is also being criticized, whose climate minister Chris Bowen is officially leading the negotiations in Antalya. The government of the state of New South Wales is pushing ahead with controversial coal mining through legislation. Australia is one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels.

Most top politicians have “not yet fully understood” that the situation is already deteriorating into a “moment of crisis”. Without significant cuts in the emission of climate-damaging gases, the world is doomed to a bleak future. However, humanity has “not yet lost the battle”. Now is the moment to “hit back”.

With the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, the international community agreed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and to make efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. However, according to current UN forecasts, warming of 2.6 to 2.8 degrees is currently expected by the end of the century. The 1.5 degree mark has actually already been reached and is expected to be exceeded in the next few years.

Former US Vice President Al Gore described Guterres as a “true global hero” in an interview with the AFP news agency in Antalya. The climate change lobbyist and Nobel Peace Prize winner said Guterres “deserves the thanks of the whole world.” He hoped that the next Secretary General would “follow his example”.

Five women and three men are in the running to succeed Guterres as UN Secretary-General, including UN diplomat Rebeca Grynspan and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi. Guterres took office in 2017.