United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on world leaders to look beyond their national interests in the fight against climate change.
The UN chief made the suggestion in Paris as part of a preparatory meeting for a global climate-change meeting in the French capital later this year.
"We don't have time to waste, we don't have time to lose. Climate change is happening. It's clear that the world's very best scientists have made it repeatedly clear that climate change is happening. It's happening much, much faster than one may think."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is hosting this week's preparatory meetings in Paris, is also raising the alarm.
"It's a race against time. Last year was the hottest ever and everything suggests that this year will be even hotter than the last. So climate imbalance is increasing and as long as we do not provide answers, the situation will get worse. So these are not just negotiations, they're a race against time."
Officials meeting in Paris this week are attempting to pare back the negotiation booklet, which is still more than 80 pages long.
Another ministerial meeting is scheduled to be held in Germany next week to try to push the agenda forward ahead of the Paris Climate Change Summit in late November.
