United States. Important announcements by government and private sector leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23 boosted the momentum of climate action and demonstrated a growing recognition that the pace of climate action must accelerate rapidly.
77 countries committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, while 70 countries announced they will push forward their national action plans for 2020 or have begun the process to do so.
More than 100 business leaders took concrete action to align with the goals of the Paris Agreement and accelerate the transition from the grey to the green economy, including asset owners with more than $2 trillion in assets and leading companies with a combined value of more than $2 trillion.
Many countries and more than 100 cities, including many of the world's largest, announced important new concrete steps to combat the climate crisis.
Many smaller countries, including small island developing States and least developed countries, were among those that made the greatest pledges, even though they have contributed the least to the problem.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, closing the Summit, said: "They have given 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 companies. We need all financial institutions, public and private, to choose, once and for all, the green economy."
Youth leaders, including Greta Thunberg, brought home the urgency of further action by leaders, and their determination to hold them accountable.
Among the main announcements:
• France announced that it would not enter into any trade agreements with countries that have policies contrary to the Paris Agreement.
• Germany committed to carbon neutrality by 2050
• 12 countries made financial commitments to the Green Climate Fund, the official financial mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. This is in addition to recent announcements from Norway, Germany, France and the United Kingdom that have recently doubled their current contributions.
• The UK today made a significant additional contribution, doubling its overall international climate finance to L11.6 billion for the period from 2020 to 2025.
• India committed to increasing renewable energy capacity to 175 gw by 2022 and pledged to further increase to 450 GW, and announced that 80 countries have joined the International Solar Alliance.
• China said it would reduce emissions by more than 12 billion tons annually and would pursue a path of high-quality growth and low-carbon development.
• The European Union announced that at least 25% of the next EU budget will be devoted to climate-related activities.
• The Russian Federation announced that it will ratify the Paris Agreement, bringing the total number of countries that have joined the Agreement to 187.
• Pakistan said it would plant more than 10 billion trees in the next five years.
Source: United Nations.
