World urged to alter crisis course

Guterres highlights effective climate measures taken by China

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday appealed for stronger leadership and ambition from the international community to reverse the impact of climate change, "a direct existential threat" at what he said was "a defining moment".

"If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us," Guterres warned in his landmark speech at United Nations headquarters in New York ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit to be held in San Francisco this week.