“Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use.

“This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction.

“As current events make all too clear, our continued reliance on fossil fuels puts the global economy and energy security at the mercy of geopolitical shocks and crises.”

A spokesman for Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor said that while global emissions are forecast to increase by around 14 per cent this decade, Australia’s emissions are forecast to fall by up to 15 per cent.

“The Morrison Government will continue to take real and practical action to reduce emissions – and reduce the cost of the technologies that will make net zero practically achievable,” he said.

Last week an analysis by scientists at Climate Resource and commissioned by WWF found that Australia was on track to emit twice as much greenhouse gas as it should if the nation was to do its fair share of keeping the world to 1.5 degrees.

Mr Guterres’ speech comes as scientists nervously watch record-breaking heat waves at both poles and a marine heatwave that has already begun to cause widespread bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.

Last week warm moist air from southern Australia travelled south and penetrated unusually deep into east Antarctica, driving temperatures up by between 10 and 40 degrees above normal.

“It could have just been a freak weather event. That happens. But if this starts happening regularly it would be seriously terrifying,” said Dr Will Hobbs, a scientist with the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership at the University of Tasmania.

Also last week a so-called “bomb cyclone” drew warm air from North America into the Arctic, driving temperatures to 10 degrees above average during what should be the region’s coldest period.

Meanwhile, a team of UNESCO experts has arrived in Australia to visit the Great Barrier Reef to report on the health of the reef to the World Heritage Committee. Its visit coincides with a marine heatwave that caused another outbreak of coral bleaching on parts of the reef.

“Whether any of these events can be attributed to climate change, we don’t yet know,” said Dr Hobbs, who also works with the Australian Research Council’s Centre for Excellence for Climate Extremes.

“But all of them are in keeping with predictions for anthropogenic climate change.”

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