UN chief says fuel subsidy means 'subsidising suicide'

. UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday urged governments to stop subisiding the production of fossil fuels that are "boiling our planet and are the scourge of biodiversity", a day after launching a report that warned the world was off track to achieving the 2030 biodiversity targets enshrined in a landmark pact for nature. 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 our planet and are the scourge of biodiversity. I urge governments everywhere to end these handouts once and for all, and to use the savings for people and planet instead." The UN says that for every dollar invested in protecting or restoring nature, about $30 still goes into activities that degrade it. Nations have made little headway since pledging in 2022 to reduce public spending on activities that harm nature such as mining, fossil fuel extraction and intensive farming. This includes an estimated $2.6 trillion a year in public subsidies that negatively impact nature and the climate.