"Just like the tobacco industry, they rode roughshod over their own science," Guterres said, referring to lawsuits that determined cigarette companies had hidden the dangers of their products.The study on ExxonMobil found that the firm's scientists had modelled and predicted global warming "with shocking accuracy", only for the company "to spend the next couple of decades denying that very climate science"."Fossil fuel producers and their enablers are still racing to expand production, knowing full well that this business model is inconsistent with human survival," he said.But former US vice president Al Gore, a Nobel peace prize winner for his work on climate change, praised Guterres' speech.Sweden's Greta Thunberg and other young climate activists launched an online petition this week demanding that energy firms immediately stop opening any new oil, gas or coal extraction sites, warning that citizens would consider taking legal action to hold them accountable."