UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday led calls for action to combat global warming at an energy summit in Abu Dhabi.

"Now is the time for action," the UN chief told participants at the annual World Future Energy Summit held in the oil-rich emirate.

"Governments, the private sector (and) international organisations must start working to implement the 17 ambitious global goals" for sustainable development, he said.

The goals agreed in September include a call for urgent action to combat climate change.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who presided over sealing the historic COP 21 global climate pact in Paris last month, said rapid action is a must.

"We have five crucial years ahead of us before the Paris agreement comes into force. Five years that we need to use to implement the transformation of our economies," he told the forum.

"The cost of clean technologies will go down. Investments in the low-carbon economy must go up," he said.

Fabius highlighted the need to "keep the 'Paris spirit' alive and to make sure that the common goals set at COP 21 are met and even exceeded."

The post-2020 Paris Agreement ends decades-long rows between rich and poor nations over how to carry out what will be a multi-trillion-dollar campaign to cap global warming and cope with the impact of a shifting climate.

It set a target of limiting warming of the planet to "well below" 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared with the Industrial Revolution, while aiming for an even more ambitious goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.