Rich countries must cut their “unacceptably high” greenhouse gas emissions and provide incentives for poorer nations to follow suit, the United Nations secretary-general told a meeting of more than 80 heads of state and government on climate change on Monday.

Ban Ki-moon said industrialised countries must show more leadership on the issue. “It has been 10 years since the Kyoto protocol was adopted. Yet most industrialised country emissions are still rising and their per capita emissions remain unacceptably high.”