Dr Pa’olelei Luteru, the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, which includes countries suffering some of the worst effects of global heating including Antigua and Barbuda, Fiji and the Maldives, said countries must heed the best available science that points to the need to reduce emissions by 45% by 2030, and reach net zero by 2050.

“We are seeing unprecedented climate events, with July breaking global temperature records. Our world is rapidly approaching the 1.5C warming threshold, which will result in catastrophic consequences for small island developing states.

“As we grapple with a climate crisis we did not cause, our developing islands are depending on the stewardship of the bigger countries to steer our world away from the worst impacts of climate change.”