A thermoelectric power station works near the frozen Moskva river in central Moscow, Russia on March 11, 2021. (YURI KADOBNOV / AFP)

UNITED NATIONS－Countries are spending unprecedented amounts of money to bounce back from the pandemic, but less than one dollar out of five will help fight global warming and heal nature, a new United Nations report shows.

The top economies have laid out more than US$14.6 trillion to date to rebound from last year's crisis.

It seems like the world is trying to put out a house fire with a garden hose, while a perfectly good hydrant is available just next door.

 Brian O'Callaghan, report lead author of Oxford University's Economic Recovery Project

But only US$341 billion or about 18 percent is going to green spending and "building back better," a report on Wednesday by the United Nations Environment Programme and Oxford University said.

"It seems like the world is trying to put out a house fire with a garden hose, while a perfectly good hydrant is available just next door," said report lead author Brian O'Callaghan of Oxford University's Economic Recovery Project.

The report highlights missed opportunities, singling out Australia where only 2 percent of US$130 billion in recovery spending is green-oriented.

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Countries in a hurry often choose familiar economic methods instead of investing in "a sustainable inclusive future" which involves shifting the way society acts, said German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze.

UN Environment Programme Chief Inger Andersen said: "On the whole so far, global green spending does not match the severity of the three planetary crises of climate change, nature loss and pollution."

If the world concentrates on clean energy spending it can come out of this crisis "definitely more able to deal with the abrupt shock that climate change demonstrably is imposing on our societies," said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

With 82 percent of recovery spending not being green, it supports the status quo, said O'Callaghan, citing "unconditional airline bailouts that could have so easily been green". But he praised France for making airlines address climate change in its rescue package.

The report singles out the United States, South Korea, South Africa and the United Kingdom for not doing that.

READ MORE: UN: Two-thirds of 1.2m polled call climate change 'global emergency'

In the United States, of the US$3.44 trillion spending on COVID-19 through the end of 2020, only about US$10 billion of that spending has been green, O'Callaghan said.

Agencies via Xinhua contributed to this story.