UN chief says 'subsidising fossil fuels is subsidising suicide'

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday urged governments to stop subsiding the production of fossil fuels that are "boiling the planet and are the scourge of biodiversity". Addressing leaders in Armenia ahead of next week's UN biodiversity summit, Guterres said governments were still "spending money on the wrong things" and singled out incentives for fossil fuels."

Subsidising fossil fuels is subsidising suicide," Guterres said at an event in Yerevan." They are boiling the planet and are the scourge of biodiversity. He urged governments everywhere to end these handouts once and for all, and to use the savings for people and planet instead."

The United Nations said that for every dollar invested in protecting or restoring nature, about $30 still goes into activities that degrade it.This includes an estimated $2.6 trillion a year in public subsidies that negatively impact nature and the climate.