World leaders make progress on climate change, Ban says

“It is still early days , of course , but this has been one of the most engaged GA [General Assembly] sessions in years ,” he told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York , summing up the opening of the Assembly’s 64th annual General Debate and the meetings that took place on the sidelines.

“There is a broad recognition of the UN’s pivotal role in rising to the exceptional challenges of the coming year.”

He said the summit meeting he convened on the climate crisis last Tuesday with 101 heads of State and government present laid a “solid foundation” toward December’s Copenhagen meeting , where leaders will seek a new treaty to control emissions of greenhouse gases.

“All leaders said they wanted a deal and are prepared to work for it. This gives the negotiations vital political impetus ,” he said , citing the leaders’ confirmation of the need to limit the global average temperature rise to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius with most vulnerable countries pushing for an even more stringent 1.5-degree limit.

He also noted that on the mitigation front , Japan announced a “bold goal” of 25 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and China said it would be prepared to take additional actions to reduce energy intensity in the context of an international agreement.

On adaptation , he noted that the European Union (EU) announced support for a fast track funding facility for adaptation and their readiness to provide €5 billion to €7 billion to get it started.

“At long last , leaders focused on climate change financing and got more concrete , with many expressing support for the proposal for $100 billion annually over the next decade for concrete adaptation and mitigation actions ,” Mr. Ban said.

“We need to maintain the new momentum and solidify progress in the run-up to Copenhagen.”

Read more: UN News