U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres will assemble heads of state and business leaders on Wednesday that he has identified as making a strong action on climate change for a summit pointed toward gathering speed before the COP28 climate summit. The event is part of the United Nations General Assembly 2023.
For nations to participate, new climate funding vows or adaptation plans are also among the criteria.
Meanwhile, for businesses, cities and financial institutions to participate in the climate summit, the U.N. expects them to address transition plans aligned with its integrity recommendations, emission reduction targets for 2025 that incorporate indirect emissions, as well as plans to deliberately transition away fossil fuels that don’t depend on carbon offsetting.
https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1704287786948235687Guterres expressed one of the points was to spur action from nations and businesses whose climate plans were not in accordance with the worldwide climate target.
Non-member states and global financial institutions that will get slots for speaking include Allianz (ALVG.DE), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the city of London and the state of California.
According to a spokesperson, U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry will attend the summit but won’t speak.
The Secretary-General’s office has kept a close watch on the rundown of invited speakers. Guterres’ climate adviser Selwin Hart said in an interview with Reuters this week that the reason for the summit was not to “embarrass” nations or organisations that didn’t make the cut but to inspire more action from others.
Missing from the rundown of 34 speakers representing nations at Guterres’ Climate Ambition Summit are the world’s biggest emitters China and the U.S, as well as the United Arab Emirates, the host of the COP28 gathering in December.
The Climate Ambition Summit will consist of speeches from leaders who are responding to his call to speed up worldwide climate action, including Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Pakistan, South Africa and Tuvalu.
China’s mission to the United Nations and UAE did not promptly respond for comment.
Guterres has been blunt in his public appraisal of nations’ climate actions and whether they will deliver on the Paris agreement goal to restrict the rise in worldwide temperature to 1.5°C. “I’m not sure all leaders are feeling the heat. Actions are falling abysmally short,” he said in his opening remarks of the U.N. General Assembly.
A report released by the U.N. recently said existing national pledges to reduce emissions were lacking to keep temperatures within the 1.5 C limit. More than 20 giga tonnes of additional CO2 reductions were required this decade – and worldwide net zero by 2050 – to meet the objectives.