India must swiftly and permanently turn away from coal despite its need for cheap energy, the UN secretary-general has urged, aiming to revive global action on the climate crisis as the world begins to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

António Guterres told a virtual audience on Friday morning that coal use must be phased out in India, with no new coal-fired power stations after this year, and that fossil fuel subsidies must be ended.

“[Coal] spells stranded assets and makes no commercial sense – the coal business is going up in smoke,” he said. “India can become a true global superpower in the fight against climate change if it speeds up its shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” he said.