The UN on Tuesday unveiled its largest-ever scientific assessment on the dire state of the environment, but a crucial summary of its findings was torpedoed as nations feuded over fossil fuels.

The dispute over the Global Environment Outlook echoes a growing trend in consensus-based negotiations where oil-producing countries in particular are frustrating efforts to address pollution from fossil fuels and plastic.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said it was the first time that countries had failed to produce a politically-negotiated summary of the mammoth report, which is published roughly every five years and involves hundreds of scientists.

"It's regrettable," UNEP executive director Inger Andersen told AFP but added "the integrity of the report" remained above question.

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