Climate ‘Marshall Plan’ — U.N. Joins World Economic Forum Call to End Oil, Gas, and Coal Use

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for an end to oil, gas, and coal use in favor of renewable sources as part of a self-described global climate Marshall Plan.

The veteran Portuguese Socialist spoke ahead of the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which has already issued its own call for net-zero carbon emissions to be driven by a wider embrace of solar and wind power sources without delay.

To avoid catastrophic climate change, humanity must “end fossil fuel pollution and accelerate the renewable energy transition, before we incinerate our only home,” Guterres said in his pre-recorded remarks timed to coincide with the release of a major U.N. state-of-climate report, AFP reports.

Renewable technologies should be treated as freely available “global public goods”, unconstrained by intellectual property, he added.

The U.N. Secretary-General also called for an end to approximately half-a-trillion dollars in fossil fuel subsidies, roughly two-thirds of which go to consumers and the rest directly to industry as part of the drive to change consumer habits. – READ MORE