VIDEO. UN secretary-general calls for taxing superprofits of oil and gas groups

“It is immoral that these oil and gas companies are making record profits on the backs of the poorest people and forcing the climate to pay a colossal price.” launched the head of the UN, António Guterres, recalling that in the first quarter of 2022, the combined profits of the main energy companies represented 100 billion dollars. A superprofit that the Secretary General considers indecent in the context of a global energy crisis linked to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last February.

He therefore called “all governments to tax these excessive profits and use this money to support the most vulnerable populations in these difficult times”. Awareness and reaction must also come from the side of civilian populations. “I call on citizens everywhere to send a clear message to the fossil fuel industries and those who finance them: this grotesque greed is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people while destroying the only common home we have, our planet.” said the UN chief.