Challenged by the United Nations chief to set a new course for a warming globe and reverse the rise of heat-trapping gases, world leader after world leader on Tuesday made promises of billions of dollars and better care of planet Earth.
Tuesday’s one-day summit at the annual UN General Assembly gathering of more than 100 world leaders is a forum for non-binding pledges. It was designed to lay the groundwork for a new global treaty to tackle climate change in December 2015.“Today we must set the world on a new course,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in opening remarks. “Climate change is the defining issue of our age. It is defining our present. Our response will define our future.”
And world leaders took over with the first of many of the non-binding pledges, promising by mid-morning a total of at least USD 5 billion to help the world become more sustainable.That often includes turning away from the burning of coal, oil and gas and away from the destruction of the world’s carbon-absorbing forests.
The European Union offered a rare proposal, specific targets beyond 2020, saying its member nations would cut greenhouse gases so that by 2030 they would be 40 per cent below the 1990 level.The vow also calls for using renewable energy for 27 percent of the bloc’s power needs and to increase energy efficiency by 30 per cent.