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UN Chief Guterres Urges Graduates to Shun 'Climate Wreckers'

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, addresses the media during a joint press conference with the President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Guterres is on Wednesday, May 18 launching a five-point plan to jump-start broader use of renewable energies as the U.N. weather agency reported that greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification hit new records last year. (AP Photo/Theresa Wey, file)
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, addresses the media during a joint press conference with the President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Guterres is on Wednesday, May 18 launching a five-point plan to jump-start broader use of renewable energies as the U.N. weather agency reported that greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification hit new records last year. (AP Photo/Theresa Wey, file)
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Newark, N.J. (AP) -- The head of the United Nations implored graduating college students on Tuesday to reject jobs at companies that fund the fossil fuel industry he described as “killing our planet.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made his remarks to graduating seniors at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. Guterres told the class at Newark’s Prudential Center that they are entering a world “brimming with peril” from conflict and strife and the effects of climate change — but that they can reverse the errors of previous generations by not working for financial institutions that profit off fossil fuels.