Reflections on the UN Climate Action Summit

Closing last month’s UN Climate Action Summit, UN, Secretary-General António Guterres said,

“You have delivered a boost in momentum, cooperation and ambition. But we have a long way to go... we need more concrete plans, more ambition from more countries and more businesses. We need all financial institutions, public and private, to choose, once and for all, the green economy.”

So where are we now, post-summit, with global climate action?

Key outcomes of the UN Climate Action Summit

• 65 countries and major sub-national economies such as California committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
  

• 70 countries announced they will either boost their national action plans by 2020 or have started the process of doing so.
  

• Many smaller countries, including Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, were among those who made the biggest pledges, despite the fact they have contributed the least to the problem.
  

• Countries, including France and New Zealand, announced that they will not allow oil or gas
  exploration on their lands or off-shore waters.
  

• Over 100 business leaders delivered concrete actions to align with the Paris Agreement targets, and speed up the transition from the grey to green economy, including asset-owners holding over $2 trillion in assets and leading companies with combined value also over $2 trillion.

The UN Secretary General  Antonio Guiterres has released his reflections on the outcomes of the summit stating that,

“If our world is to avoid the climate cliff, far more is needed to heed the call of science and cut greenhouse emissions by 45% by 2030; reach carbon neutrality by 2050; and limit temperature rise to 1.5C by the end of the century. That’s how we can secure the future of our world.”

In the lead up to COP25 in Santiago, Chile we can continue to amplify governments and businesses’ ambition in working toward a climate-safe future.

Written by Zoe Goodman