LONDON The coronavirus pandemic threatens to derail any progress made in recent years to deal with the climate change crisis, organizers of the annual gathering of business and political elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos said Tuesday. The WEF warned that omitting sustainability criteria in recovery efforts or returning to an emissions-intensive global economy risks hampering the climate resilient low-carbon transition." Spurred on by young climate activists, such as Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate, promises were made to meet the commitments made in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Since then, though, everything has been upended by the coronavirus, which has forced much of the world to impose unprecedented lockdowns of their societies. The report was produced in partnership with professional services firm Marsh & McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group.

Climate activist Vanessa Nakate, right, speaks via video-link as Ell Ottosson Jarl and Greta Thunberg, center, also attend a press conference with climate activists and experts from Africa in Stockholm, Sweden, Friday Jan. 31, 2020. “African activists are doing so much,” Nakate said. No continent will be struck more severely by climate change, the U.N. “Because climate change is not specific about the kinds of people it affects.”For her part, Thunberg firmly returned the spotlight to the activists from African countries. Nakate urged the audience to make 2020 the year of action on climate change after young activists in 2019 put the issue squarely at the center of global discussions.

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg takes her seat prior to the opening session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. The 50th annual meeting of the forum will take place in Davos from Jan. 20 until Jan. 24, 2020. “The facts are clear, but they are still too uncomfortable for you to address,” she told business and political leaders in Davos just after Trump's speech, also without directly mentioning the president. Last month, Trump told Thunberg in a tweet to “chill” and to “work on her Anger Management problem." Thunberg noted that the remaining carbon “budget” to confidently meet that target stood at just 420 gigatons of CO2 two years ago, the equivalent of 10 years of global emissions.