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Morrison government’s inaction is driving away chance to build a new low-emissions economy, industry experts say

Australia risks being left in a “parallel world” with petrol cars as the rest of the world turns to electric vehicles in an effort reduce carbon emissions.

As Ford announced that all its cars sold in Europe would be electric by 2030, industry experts warned Australia faces an uphill struggle to catch up with other nations in preparation for the phasing out of the internal combustion engine.

Related: Ford plans for all cars sold in Europe to be electric by 2030

Related: Australia's electric vehicle policy steers us to a future based on fossil fuels. It needs to be dumped | Simon Holmes à Court

UN report offers bedrock for hope for broken planet, says António Guterres

Humanity is waging a “senseless and suicidal” war on nature that is causing human suffering and enormous economic losses while accelerating the destruction of life on Earth, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has said.

Guterres’s starkest warning to date came at the launch of a UN report setting out the triple emergency the world is in: the climate crisis, the devastation of wildlife and nature, and the pollution that causes many millions of early deaths every year.

Related: 'Put a big fat price on carbon': OECD chief bows out with climate rally cry

Related: Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals – study

The oil- and gas-rich state is experiencing what officials call a ‘total failure’ of its electricity infrastructure

Millions of people in Texas have spent days in below-freezing temperatures without power in what officials have called a “total failure” of the state’s electricity infrastructure. How did oil- and gas-rich Texas – the biggest producer of energy in the US – get here?

Related: The Texans facing blackouts and burst pipes: 'Do I wait for the ceiling to cave in?'

Ángel Gurría reflects on time at helm as new generation leads institutions with power to influence governments

“Finance ministers have not always been green,” said Ángel Gurría, the outgoing secretary general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, reflecting on his 15 years in charge of the club of wealthier nations. “But today, if you are not green, it probably means you died and no one told you.”

The OECD occupies a powerful position, advising countries on economic policy and judging them on their performance, judgments that can sway investors and affect a country’s economy. Gurría said when he took office in 2006 that environment ministers tended to be left out of important decision-making by their governments, while the finance ministers who ruled the roost spurned green concerns. “Fifteen years ago, any meeting of environment ministers was like group therapy. They used to feel so lonely, they would tell each other stories so they would not feel so much alone.”