Global finance leaders tackle climate change

The head of the International Monetary Fund says it's time for a global effort to tackle climate change - otherwise the only "realistic" way to avoid environmental disaster is to leave it to aliens.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva made the quip at a briefing alongside the president of the World Bank and Italy's finance minister.

They were attending the Venice International Conference on Climate.

"Our miserable performance so far has given ground to an interesting joke; how can we achieve sustainability move and protect our climate?" she said.

"There are two ways to do that: one is realistic and the other one is fantastic. The realistic way is extraterrestrials come from space, they take over our affairs, they do it, and the fantastic (way) is we people do it ourselves," she continued.

Georgieva then pointed to Italian finance minister Daniele Franco, saying it was his job, while Italy holds the G-20 presidency, to make the "realistic fantastic".

Franco and World Bank president David Malpass also laid out their plans to tackle climate change.

The Venice climate conference on Sunday followed a meeting of finance officials from the Group of 20 major economies in the Italian city on Saturday.