'Ban fossil fuel ads to help stop climate change' says UN chief

The UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for governments and companies to place bans on advertisements for coal, oil and gas in an effort to stop climate change.

In a speech he warned "The battle to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s."

A 2018 report by an international group of scientists showed if the Earth's temperature rose by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, it would cause many problems for the planet.

To try and stop this, the UN Secretary General says he wants to see more rapid political action and a “clampdown” on the fossil fuel industry.

What is happening to the climate?

Climate change causes more extreme weather like flooding

European Union (EU) climate service data shows that each of the past 12 months has set a new global temperature record for the time of year.

The high temperatures were driven by human-caused climate change and given a boost by something called El Niño, which is a natural weather phenomenon.

The data showed high emissions of climate warming gases mean the world is moving closer to breaching the 1.5C mark on a longer-term basis.

Rising temperatures melt ice on land in places like the Arctic and Antarctic, leading to a rise in the Earth's sea levels, flooding many coastal areas and islands.

Also, climate change means extreme weather like heatwaves, droughts and storms happen more often and become more severe.

Last year was the hottest on record and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said the record could be broken again as soon as this year.

What can be done to help prevent climate change?

Experts say renewable energy is part of the solution to climate change

António Guterres wants urgent action over the next 18 months to protect people and nature.

He wants to see the use of fossil fuels phased out, trees protected and not cut down and more renewable energy.

Renewable energy is a natural source of energy that can be used to create electricity, from sources such as the Sun, wind and water.

What is the problem with fossil fuels?

Global warming is the rise in temperature of Earth's atmosphere, and one of the causes is burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases which prevents heat from escaping the atmosphere.

Phasing out coal, oil and gas is seen as critical in helping the world avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

Last December, at COP28 - a climate change conference between nations in Dubai - countries agreed to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

• Read more about the climate agreement at Cop28 here

UN Secretary General António Guterres is calling for urgent action

“I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies,” Mr Guterres told an audience in New York.

“And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising.”

In response, representatives of fossil fuel groups said they were committed to reducing their emissions.

“Our industry is focused on continuing to produce affordable, reliable energy while tackling the climate challenge, and any allegations to the contrary are false,” said Megan Bloomgren, Senior Vice President of Communications at the American Petroleum Foundation.