“Acting later would mean having to pay the much higher price of a climate disaster,” Draghi told 400 young activists at the pre-COP26 summit in Milan on Thursday.

“I firmly believe that we have a lot to learn from your ideas, suggestions and leadership.

“Your pressure is very welcome; we need to be whipped into action.

“You are right to demand accountability and change ... your mobilisation has been powerful and rest assured, we are listening.”

Draghi, who was briefly interrupted by protestors during his speech, declared that 40 per cent of Italy’s €200 billion National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR) fund will be invested in renewable energy, making mobility more sustainable, improving the energy efficiency of buildings and protecting biodiversity.

He also said Italy wants the G20 summit in October to make a commitment to limit global warming to 1.5°C and promised to push wealthy nations to honour their pledge of donating $100 billion per year to help vulnerable countries mitigate the impact of climate change.

The Milan talks are hosted by the Italian government ahead of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, or COP26, a major summit due to be held in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.

The UN COP26 conference aims to secure more ambitious climate action from the nearly 200 countries who signed the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The pre-COP26 meeting, attended by Italian President Sergio Mattarella and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, follows the Youth4Climate talks, which saw hundreds of young climate activists from around the world descend on Milan.

The proposals put forward by the activists this week will be assessed by some 50 climate and energy ministers, and some will make it to Glasgow.

They include demands for a transparent climate finance system, sustainable and responsible tourism, and the total phasing out of the fossil fuel industry by 2030.

Earlier this morning Draghi met Thunberg along with Uganda’s Vanessa Nakate and Italy’s Martina Comparelli.

On October 1, Thunberg will attend the Milan rally for Fridays for Future, the global movement that she launched, which involves school students swapping classes for demonstrations to demand action to prevent further global warming and climate change.