Global warming will 'decimate' G20 economies without unity: UN climate head

London: UN climate chief Simon Stiell on Wednesday warned G20 nations their economies face decimation and they must overcome geopolitical divisions to...

London: UN climate chief Simon Stiell on Wednesday warned G20 nations their economies face decimation and they must overcome geopolitical divisions to tackle global warming.

Stiell said the climate crisis was slipping down a crowded global agenda at a time when consensus was needed on how to help developing nations pay for clean energy and respond to extreme weather.

The Group of 20 developed and developing economies including the United States, China and India faced many geopolitical challenges but this "cannot be an excuse for timidity amidst this worsening crisis", Stiell said in a London speech.

"I'll be candid: blame-shifting is not -- is not -- a strategy. Sidelining climate isn't a solution to a crisis that will decimate every G20 economy and has already started to hurt," said the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"The financial firepower the G20 marshaled during the global financial crisis should be marshaled again and pointed squarely at curbing runaway emissions and building resilience right now."