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THE LARGEST GATHERING of world leaders on climate change opens at the United Nations today amid calls for action to put the planet on course toward reversing global warming.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is hosting the summit of 120 leaders, the first high-level gathering since the Copenhagen conference on climate change ended in disarray in 2009.
Diplomats and climate activists see the event as crucial to building momentum ahead of the Paris conference in late 2015 that is to yield a deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions after 2020.
No shows
But no-shows from the leaders of China, the world’s biggest polluter, and India, the number three emissions emitter, are casting a cloud over the event.
Ban is to kick off the summit alongside former US vice president and climate crusader Al Gore, Hollywood celebrity Leonardo DiCaprio, Chinese actress Li Bingbing and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate panel.
Ban named DiCaprio Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change in September.
Climate Summit Live / TwitterThis man will be at the opening of #Climate2014: @LeoDiCaprio, @UN messenger of peace and #climate activist pic.twitter.com/VtEW4mBzI7
— Climate Summit Live (@Climate2014Live) September 23, 2014
“Climate change is the defining issue of our time. Now is the time for action,” said Ban on the eve of the meeting opening at UN headquarters.
Leaders then take turns at the podium, from President Barack Obama representing the world’s second biggest polluter to our very own Enda Kenny.
China is sending Deputy Premier Zhang Gaoli, the country’s number three, while India will be represented by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
Real commitments?
The United Nations is seeking to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, but scientists say current emission trends could hike temperatures to more than twice that level by century’s end.
One recent report warned that a surge in carbon dioxide levels had pushed greenhouse gases to record highs in the atmosphere, increasing at their fastest rate in 30 years in 2013.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first international agreement to reduce emissions, expired two years ago and was never ratified by the United States.
Despite much enthusiasm from climate activists for the summit’s potential to create impetus, some see the event as falling short of what is needed to get serious about the environment.
“Few governments will be in a position to make any real commitments,” wrote the aid agency Oxfam in an assessment of the summit’s likely outcome.
The initiatives to be unveiled by the private sector, foundations, and green groups at the summit ”are helpful but few, if any, are really ground-breaking,” it added.
Protests
The summit is held after marches drew hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on the streets in cities worldwide on Sunday in a show of “people power” directed at leaders reluctant to tackle global warming.
Key players from the private sector are also stepping into the fray to who their commitment to greening, with Apple CEO Tim Cook announcing on Monday that the tech giant would prioritize low-carbon growth.
“Excuses for inaction have run out. The summit can be a major milestone, but only if it delivers the real world changes that we need,” said Andrew Steer, of the World Resources Institute.
Attempts to negotiate a new treaty ended in fiasco at the Copenhagen conference in 2009 and the pressure is on to avoid a repeat of that failure at the UN talks in Paris next year.
“The message from the climate summit and the message going forward to Paris is that it’s not business as usual with a little bit of green attached,” UN climate envoy Mary Robinson told AFP in an interview.
“It’s changing course.”
The UN Climate Summit begins at 8am (local time)/1pm (Irish time) and is being live streamed from the UN Web TV.
Additional reporting Christina Finn
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Oh gawd ! I thought she was full of something else !
No we don’t. That’s what your doctor’s office is for.
I think we should talk about ……. Jam!, when I was eating jam sangages last week for lunch the jam dripped onto my hand, It was sticky and very annoying . Why not start a debate about that!??
Gimme a jasus break!!!!
@Stephen, It’s really depends on the brand of jam that you use and of course the flavour of jam, chivers strawberry jam is notorious for its dripping qualities, some people will think that I’m a jam racist after that!
She suddenly feels a need to talk about it AFTER somebody else brought up the topic publically.
why do we need talk about it? it’s a personal medical issue get it sorted and save us having to know about it.
When a woman like Bláthnaid says, “we need to talk about it.” it usually means ‘shut up and listen…or else.’
I don’t see the need to talk about it, – maybe she means ‘women need to be educated about it…??
Kate Winslet said it was” part and parcel” of child birth so if that’s the case, why feel the need to talk about it?
As a taxi driver I can fully vouch for what she’s saying.. It’s actually unbelievable the amount of Women that will leave a stain in the seat when they get out..
Is this a piss take?
Definitely talking the piss.
Indeed. No justice in the world when a poor innocent dog gets his mouth duct taped shut and this bag of piss gets to open hers all too freely.
The New world intercontence champion
Literally pissin myself here!
Billy Connolly had been talking about incontinence for years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCysEz4nFDc
Really enjoyed the interview Blathnáid gave to Moncrieff yesterday. This wasn’t the only topic she talked about, she also talked about going to college for the first time at forty five, the pressures placed on a woman’s appearance in the media and life in general.
She had keyhole surgery recently to sort out her incontinence problem and is enjoying a better quality of life. Seems like she had a difficult fifteen years with it, and if she chooses to talk about something that affected her personally good for her.
@Chauncey Gardiner,
Yeah but she’s doing a nonsense degree, Women’s Studies.
Gender Studies actually. Why worry about it, what Blanáid does or discusses has no consequence on your life.
We need to talk about crop dusting
Is that the less successful follow up to ”We need to talk about Kevin” ?
Never tell a pregnant woman a secret so
Or how about not talking about it. Just put up with it, or treat it, or whatever the doctor recommends. But definitely, definitely, don’t talk about it. That would work better for all concerned.
Echo island surround by water, makes ya think
No we dont
My mates in England were more interested in how on earth to pronounce her name
Flatulence needs a discussion as well and smelly feet could do with a bit of understanding
Ah she’s just talking shit
Sorry, it’s gone outa me head.
Does she file her taxes in her English name, married name, maiden name , Irish maiden name, Irish married name —- what is her name in English ?? If Irish people want English translated into Irish it should work both ways and her name should appear in English also.
Thank god for c sections!
PMSL
Worse if it was peed others while laughing lol.
Flaps
Her name in english is flower coffey
Awful thing but Billy Connolly had a great parody about it…
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