Dozens of heads of state and government will show their ambitions to fight global warming in a virtual summit aimed at redoubling efforts, five years after the Paris Agreement.
These leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as business representatives, civil society and indigenous peoples, will participate in this summit organized by the United Nations, the United Kingdom and France, along with Chile and Italy.
The speakers were selected for the ambition of their climate goals, according to the organizers, who promise that “there will be no room for general statements.”
Among those absent are Brazil and Australia, whose targets are considered insufficient.
The summit, which is considered a stage leading up to COP26, which will take place in November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, will be opened by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 2:00 p.m. (local time and GMT).
“Our actions as leaders should not be motivated by shyness or prudence, but by ambition on a large scale,” he said before the summit.
He announced in a statement that the UK will stop “as soon as possible” to financially support fossil fuel projects abroad. The British government has also pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 68% by 2030.
– “There are reasons for hope” –
On December 12, 2015, among the cheers of the delegations from 195 countries, 13 days of tough negotiations were closed at the UN meeting on climate COP21.
Almost the entire planet committed to reducing warming “clearly” below + 2 ° C, and if possible + 1.5 ° C, relative to the pre-industrial era.
But after the historic decision, enthusiasm waned, laminated a year later by the election of Donald Trump, in the United States, who announced the withdrawal of the second world economy from the Paris Agreement.
Despite the pressure of public opinion, at present “climate policies are not yet up to the challenge,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recently denounced.
“We are in 1.2 ° C of warming and we already observe climatic extremes and unprecedented volatility,” he insisted.
Canicles, successive hurricanes, large forest fires, floods … The multiplication of devastating events is an unequivocal sign of the warming of the planet, which has just experienced the hottest decade ever observed.
The signatories of the Paris agreement must submit before the end of 2020 a review of their commitments. But only about twenty countries have already done so, representing less than 5% of global emissions.
“It is felt that there is a need to relaunch the Chinese machine,” declared French Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili, questioned on Friday by AFP on the sidelines of the displacement in Rome. “It is time for certain countries to show their ambitions,” he added.
Before the summit, several countries announced ambitious plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The 27 EU countries agreed on Friday to reduce their emissions by “at least 55%” between now and 2030 compared to the 1990 level, compared to -40% previously, with the aim of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
China, the world’s biggest polluter, recently announced its intention to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, while President-elect Joe Biden pledged that the United States will achieve that goal by 2050.
For the executive director of Greenpeace, John Sauven, with this summit “there is reason to have hope”.
“With Donald Trump out of the White House and stronger climate action from China, South Korea and Japan, we now have a chance to rally the world in a massive effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” stressed in a statement.
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