A sustainable development summit will be held in New York at the beginning of the week, and the UN Secretary General will also organize a Climate Ambition summit on Wednesday.
In the United States, tens of thousands of people gathered on the streets of New York on Sunday to demand intensified measures to combat climate change during the UN summit.
People from a total of around 700 organizations and activist groups participated in the demonstration. Demonstrators spread across several blocks carried signs demanding, among other things, that Biden bring an end to the use of fossil fuels.
– I didn’t vote for fires and floods, read one of the signs, which apparently referred to the large-scale climate change-related natural disasters seen around the world earlier this year.
The high-level week of the UN General Assembly begins on Monday in New York. President of the United States Joe Biden is scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly, which officially opens on Tuesday, along with numerous other world leaders.
– We are here to demand that the administration declare a climate emergency, said Analilia Mejia46, director of the Center for Popular Democracy activist group.
– We need to wake up and take immediate action, he told AFP.
On Monday and Tuesday, a sustainable development summit is scheduled in New York. The Finnish delegation is headed by the president Sauli Niinistöwho will also speak at Monday’s summit.
On Tuesday, the national speeches of different countries by the heads of state will begin at the opening of the General Assembly. Niinistö will give Finland’s speech on Wednesday.
The year 2025 is the deadline for the emission peak
A UN climate report released this month named 2025 as the end of the global peak in greenhouse gas emissions if humanity is to limit global warming in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The emission peak mentioned in the report should be followed by a sharp drop.
According to the report, the 2015 Paris Agreement has successfully guided climate action, but much more is now required on all fronts. At the end of the year, a crucial climate summit is scheduled to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In the Paris climate agreement, achieving zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 was also mentioned as one of the goals. Achieving this goal also requires a gradual phasing out of fossil fuels, unless their emissions can be recovered or compensated for.
To demonstrate the seriousness of climate change’s existential crisis, Analilia Mejia of the Center for Popular Democracy activist group pointed to recent extreme weather events. These include, for example, the wildfires in Canada, Hawaii and Greece, as well as the devastating floods in Libya.
Another activist, 22 years old Teddy bear Cobo told AFP that he would like political leaders to come visit his home in California and spend the night near an oil and gas well.
A Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg Cobo, who worked with climate campaigns, fell ill with ovarian cancer at the age of 19, which he feels was a result of the toxic air he was exposed to at home.
– Our lives are at stake, he said.
“History remembers their actions”
In the United States, President Biden has made decisions promoting green production and offered billions of dollars for clean energy projects. However, some activists say that Biden has not taken strong enough steps to help the United States get rid of its dependence on fossil fuels.
The state of California filed a lawsuit against five major international oil companies on Friday. The state accuses the companies of causing billions of dollars in damage and misleading people by downplaying the risks of fossil fuels.
The world’s top scientists warn that the world is likely to experience new heat records in the next five years. They also estimate that global temperatures are likely to exceed the crucial threshold of an average increase of 1.5 degrees.
Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres is organizing the Climate Ambition summit on Wednesday, where he hopes to accelerate the efforts already underway by governments, private organizations and financial institutions to combat climate change.
– History remembers their action or inaction, says Mejia of the Center for Popular Democracy activist group.
– And if we’re lucky, there are still people here who can remember what (world leaders) did at this summit.