UN chief Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to declare a “state of climate emergency” and shape greener growth after the coronavirus pandemic, as he opened a summit marking five years since the landmark Paris Agreement. The Climate Ambition Summit, being held online, comes as the United Nations warns current commitments to tackle rises in global temperatures are inadequate.

In Paris, five years ago, states promised to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) as much as possible, Guterres said via video-link. But he pointed out that the pledges made to meet that goal were insufficient, and in some cases were themselves being ignored. The UN secretary-general warned that if the global community does not change course, the globe may be headed towards a “catastrophic” temperature increase of more than 3C (5.4F) this century.

Furthermore, the UN chief called on the world leaders to declare a state of climate emergency in their countries until carbon neutrality was reached. “Some 38 countries have already done so, recognizing the urgency and the stakes,” he said. Guterres told world leaders that the revised targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by the Paris accord signatories were to be submitted before the 26th Conference of Parties, to be held in Glasgow, which has been postponed a year duet COVID-19.

Guterres said that economic recovery packages launched in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic represented an opportunity to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future – but warned this was not happening fast enough. “So far, the members of the G20 are spending 50% more in their stimulus and rescue packages on sectors linked to fossil fuel production and consumption, than on low-carbon energy,” Guterres said. “This is unacceptable. The trillions of dollars needed for COVID recovery is money that we are borrowing from future generations,” he said. “We cannot use these resources to lock in policies that burden future generations with a mountain of debt on a broken planet.”

With the impacts of climate change increasingly stark since the Paris deal was struck — ranging from wildfires in Australia and California to collapsing ice sheets — popular pressure has grown on leaders to listen to warnings from scientists. Britain, co-hosting the summit, made one of the clearest new commitments, announcing late on Friday it would stop direct government support for overseas fossil fuel projects. Campaigners hailed the move for putting pressure on other G7 economies to restrict support for oil and gas companies.