The global coronavirus crisis has given governments around the world a chance to turn a “human tragedy” into a force for good in combating climate change and improving societal equality by directing stimulus package finance into building the “infrastructure of the future” for a “clean and just world”, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) has said.

Irena director-general Francesco La Camera said that while a renewables-powered energy transition was “unstoppable”, there were justifiable concerns that the Covid-19 pandemic could be hi-jacked by “lobbyists trying to get the last penny out of the old energy system”, meaning it was crucial political leaders moved swiftly to draw on the momentum of the “shift already [underway] of the money going...