The Climate Action Summit has kicked off at the United Nations headquarters in New York, with the host UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging world leaders as well as the private sector, civil society, local authorities and other international organizationsto come with concrete, realistic plans and initiatives to tackle climate change.
“ This is not a climate talk summit. We have had enough talk. This is not a climate negotiation summit because we don’t negotiate with nature. This is a climate action summit. From the beginning, I said the ticket to entry is not a beautiful speech, but concrete action. And you are here with commitments,” said Mr. Guterres.
Leaders from government, business, and civil society will announce potentially far-reaching steps to confront climate change.
As carbon pollution, temperatures, and climate destruction continue to rise, and public backlash mounts, the Summit offers a turning point from inertia into momentum, action, and global impact—if everyone gets on board.
Activist Greta Thunberg, on behalf of the world’s youth, told the leaders to walk the talk on climate change, warning that the human race was facing unprecedented danger of being wiped out.
“People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction,” said Ms. Greta, in her passionate speech at the beginning of the summit.
“You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you,” she said.
The UN estimates that the world would need to increase its efforts between three- and five-fold to contain climate change to the levels dictated by science – a 1.5°C rise at most – and avoid escalating climate damage already taking place around the world.
However, the Paris Agreement provides an open-door framework for countries to continuously ratchet up their positive actions, and today’s Summit demonstrates how governments, businesses, and civilians around the world are rising to the challenge.
“The best science, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, tells us that any temperature rise above 1.5 degrees will lead to major and irreversible damage to the ecosystems that support us,” said Mr. Guterres. “Science tells us that on our current path, we face at least 3-degrees Celsius of global heating by the end of the century. The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.”
Many countries will use the Summit to demonstrate next steps on how by 2020 they will update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with the aim to collectively reduce emissions by at least 45% by 2030 and prepare national strategies to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century.
What else to expect
- Governments are here (Climate Action Summit) to show they are serious about enhancing Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.
- Cities and businesses are here showing what leadership looks like, investing in a green future.
- Financial actors are here to scale-up action and deploy resources in fundamentally new and meaningful ways.
- Coalitions are here with partnerships and initiatives to move us closer to a resilient, carbon-neutral world by 2050.
- And young people are here providing solutions, insisting on accountability, demanding urgent action.
- The UN Global Compact will demonstrate that business is moving, as companies with a combined market capitalization of more than US$2.3 trillion and annual direct emissions equivalent to 73 coal-fired power plants pledged to take action to align their businesses with science-based targets.
