French President Emmanuel Macron issued a stark warning on climate change at a summit in Paris on Tuesday, telling world leaders "we are losing the battle" against global warming.

"We're not moving fast enough, that's the problem," Macron told the One Planet Summit called to boost the 2015 Paris climate accord, which US President Donald Trump has renounced.

"We must all act because we will all be held to account," Macron told the gathering on an island in the River Seine, adding: "We cannot say we did not know."

Dozens of world leaders and hundreds of ministers, company bosses, and environmentalists attended the meeting held two years to the day since 195 nations sealed the Paris Agreement on curbing emissions.

The absence of the US was keenly felt at the talks, which focused on boosting investment in green energy and divesting from fossil fuels.

Speaking ahead of the summit Macron said he was hopeful Trump would reconsider his decision to take the US out of the climate pact.

"I'm not ready to renegotiate but I'm ready to welcome him if he decides to come back," he told US broadcaster CBS, adding: "I'm pretty sure that my friend President Trump will change his mind in the coming months or years."

burs-cb/kjl/ecl

Tweet

World's space agencies propose setting up climate observatory
Paris (AFP) Dec 11, 2017
The heads of several of the world's space agencies have proposed the creation of a climate observatory to pool acquired data and share it with scientists around the globe, according to a declaration adopted Monday in Paris. On the eve of the One Planet Summit organised in the French capital, the space agencies' chiefs met to discuss climate monitoring from space, including such areas as gree ... read more

Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation