UN Secretary General urges governments to tax polluters in bid to cut carbon emissions

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has met with the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw and a group of youth leaders at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Mr Guterres called for three initiatives to aid in the quest for carbon neutrality.

He said governments must shift taxes from salaries to carbon, meaning tax polluters not people.

He said we must stop subsidising fossil fuels and urged the world stop the construction of new coal plants by 2020.

Mr Guterres said we need green economies not grey economies.

One youth leader, who is part of the Blake Inspire group, presented the Secretary General with a pair of red socks and a sample of his own invention - an environmental substitute to "glad wrap".