Daily US Times: The UN secretary-general António Guterres has called on all countries to declare a climate emergency.

Mr Guterres was speaking at a virtual summit on the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement.

The UN secretary-general criticised rich countries for spending 50% more of their pandemic recovery cash on fossil fuels compared to low-carbon energy.

Over 70 world leaders are due to speak at the meeting organised by the UN, France and the UK.

Mr Guterres said that 38 countries in the world had already declared a climate emergency and he called on leaders worldwide to now do the same.

He said the climate emergency would only end when carbon neutrality was reached.

On the coronavirus recovery spending, he said that this is money being borrowed from future generations.

Mr Guterres said: “We cannot use these resources to lock in policies that burden future generations with a mountain of debt on a broken planet.”

He praised those countries who have come to today’s meeting with new targets and plans.

A number of big emitters, including Australia, Russia, Mexico and Saudi Arabia, are not taking part, as their climate actions were not deemed ambitious enough.

The United Kingdom has announced an end to support for overseas fossil fuel projects, and has today deposited a new climate plan with the United Nations.

It’s the first time that Britain has had to do this, as it was previously covered by the EU’s climate commitments.

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