UN's Secretary General António Guterres departs from the fine language of diplomacy when he attacks oil companies' involvement in the climate crisis and global warming.
Guterres said the companies were "peddling the big lie," referring indirectly to the fact that Exxon Mobil scientists knew about the dangers of fossil fuels back in the 1970s.
"Last week we learned that some fossil fuel producers were fully aware that their basic product is baking our planet," said Guterres in front of the influential audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The data on the oil company Exxon Mobil has been published in the prestigious journal Science. According to the journal, the oil company's management chose not to listen to the company's own scientists.
In addition, Mr Guterres made a comparison with the multinational tobacco companies which failed to inform the public about their own research's warnings about the harmfulness of tobacco products.
"Just as in the tobacco industry, they have chosen to completely ignore their own research," said UN-Chief Guterres.