The world is facing a climate crisis - and the point of no return is hurtling towards us. That's the verdict of UN Secretary General António Guterres.

Speaking on the eve of the COP25 climate conference, he's calling on world leaders to take concrete steps to confront the problem:

"What is still lacking is political will, political will to put a price on carbon, political will to stop subsidies on fossil fuels, political will to stop building coal power plants from 2020 onwards, political will to shift taxation from income to carbon, taxing pollution instead of people."

"Time to stop drilling"

It's time to "stop digging and drilling and take advantage of renewable energy and nature-based solutions" Guterres told reporters.

"But let's be clear, until now our efforts to reach these targets have been utterly inadequate. The commitments made in Paris would still lead to an increase in temperature above three degrees Celsius, but many countries aren't even meeting those commitments."

Extreme weather

World leaders will be gathering in Madrid this week to forge ahead with efforts to curb global temperature rises - as regions on every continent are experiencing extreme weather, including wildfires and flooding.

Spain is hosting the event after Chile's cancellation due to unrest in the country. Chile is still presiding over the conference and will lead the negotiations.