For Earth Day, UN chief urges ‘green recovery’ in response to coronavirus

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged governments to use their economic responses to the coronavirus pandemic to tackle the "even deeper emergency" of climate change, in a message for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

With global battle lines emerging between investors backing "green stimulus" measures and industry lobbyists aiming to weaken climate regulations, Guterres cautioned governments against bailing out heavily polluting industries.

"On this Earth Day, all eyes are on the Covid-19 pandemic, the biggest test the world has faced since the Second World War," Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister, said in a statement. "But there is another, even deeper emergency, the planet's unfolding environmental crisis."

A landmark in the emergence of the environmental movement when it first took place in 1970, Earth Day, which falls on Wednesday, has prompted calls...