UN Convenes Summit on Climate Change in New York

A one-day Climate Summit held at UN Headquarters in New York on 22 September brought together representatives from 163 Member States, including 101 Heads of State and Government. Convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, world leaders focused their attention on climate change and the urgent need for action.

The Summit sought to build political momentum in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-15) being held in Copenhagen on 1-18 December, and to provide serious and sustained dialogue between the major world economies and the most vulnerable ones.

In his opening statement, Mr. Ban told world leaders that climate change is the “pre-eminent geopolitical and economic issue of the 21st century. It rewrites the global equation for development, peace and prosperity.”

In their statements to the Assembly, leader after leader acknowledged that climate change was a “leaders’ issue” and that leaders had to make decisions, which was a shift in overall recognition of whose issue it was.

After the opening statements, four thematic roundtables were held in the morning and four were held in the afternoon. The day concluded with a closing ceremony.

In his summary of the Summit, Mr. Ban said a clear message had emerged: the Copenhagen deal must be comprehensive and ensure:

1. Enhanced action to assist the most vulnerable and the poorest to adapt to the impacts of climate change;
2. Ambitious emission reduction targets for industrialized countries;
3. Nationally-appropriate mitigation actions by developing countries with the necessary support;
4. Significantly scaled-up financial and technological resources; and
5. An equitable governance structure.

Many leaders had underlined that a climate change response should be placed in the broader context of sustainable development; there was a need to shift their economies onto low-emissions paths and build climate-resilient societies; and that action on climate change could be consistent with developing country priorities for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

While governments emphasized that climate change threatens their economic viability, social development and even territorial integrity – with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering most – many stressed that current adaptation efforts are inadequate and must be given higher priority, particularly in light of food and water security and disaster risk reduction.

Governments agreed that finance is key to a Copenhagen deal and that a substantial amount of finance will be needed to support adaptation and mitigation action in developing countries. Such funds need to be new, predictable and additional to existing finance. Many leaders called for a mechanism to ensure sustained streams of public funding at the required level. At the same time leaders acknowledged that private sources of finance also need to be tapped, including through carbon markets. Technology and capacity building were seen as key elements in addressing climate change as well.

Also emerging from the Summit was recognition of the need for an equitable governance structure (with institutional arrangements that are effective transparent, inclusive and efficient), balanced representation and respect for the priorities of developing countries.

The Secretary-General noted that he was heartened to hear that a “growing number of leaders are prepared to move beyond purely national perspectives to global leadership.”

The Climate Summit was preceded by the “Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Summit on Climate Change,” where leaders and ministers of the 42-member negotiating group expressed “grave concern that climate change poses the most serious threat to our survival and viability,” and disappointment at the current slow pace and lack of resolve in international climate talks.

The resulting “AOSIS Declaration on Climate Change” calls on the international community to ensure that the Copenhagen climate agreement peak global emissions by 2015, with a subsequent fall to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050.

The AOSIS Declaration is available online.

During “Climate Week” held from 19-26 September, NGOs, businesses, governments, artists and academia organized a series of events and activities in New York and around the world to raise awareness and galvanize action in support of a fair, ambitious and effective global climate deal in Copenhagen in December.

The Government of Denmark, along with Google and YouTube, launched a joint initiative that seeks, through the use of web-based activities and social media, to ensure that peoples’ voices are transmitted into the meeting halls during Copenhagen. Google Earth is planning to introduce new ways of visualising the impacts of climate change and enable viewers to zoom in on neighbourhoods to see the expected consequences of climate change in very detailed ways. The COP-15 YouTube platform will allow citizens to submit videos and opinions on climate change to decisions makers and will also feature videos of world leaders, experts and opinion makers attending the Conference as they delivered their statements. A climate thinkers’ blog has been established on the official Danish COP15 website.

On 21 September civil society organizations and individuals around the world led and participated in over 2,682 events in 134 countries as part of a “Global Wake-up Call” to world leaders on climate change. A key feature of the global action was phone calls made by participants to world leaders urging them to take action on climate change. Further information is available online: http://tcktcktck.org and http://www.avaaz.org .

Further information on the Summit on Climate Change and the Climate Week is available online: website and the host country COP-15: website.

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