Paris summit: Cuban, Colombian leaders urge action on 'global climate crisis'

French President Emmanuel Macron, hosting the two-day summit in Paris, invited Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley to co-headline the event, which seeks to improve the lending system for developing countries.

The summit comes amid growing recognition that curbing global warming at tolerable levels will require a massive increase in clean energy investment in poor and emerging economies. Macron called for a "public finance shock" to catalyse the decarbonisation of the global economy and help countries climb out from under a mountain of debt.

More than 50 nations are now in or near debt default, while many African countries are spending more on debt repayments than on healthcare, UN head Antonio Guterres told the conference.