UN General Assembly: Ministerial week

The Secretary-General’s Summit on Climate Change was held on Tuesday, 22 September 2009 with over 100 world leaders in attendance.  Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, represented the United Kingdom in the day’s events.  The Prime Minister also co-chaired a roundtable of Heads of State and Government on climate financing, along with President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana.  

The messages from the Summit are strong and clear:  World Leaders support the urgent need to step up action and raise the financial resources needed to both mitigate the rapid pace of climate change and to assist the most vulnerable and the poorest to adapt to the impacts of climate change.  Importantly, Leaders acknowledged the scientific imperative to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 1990 by 2050 to meet this goal.  Leaders have undertaken to remain engaged until an ambitious, effective and fair deal is struck in Copenhagen this December.  Developed country leaders stated that they are ready to fast-track substantial funds in Copenhagen to Developing countries for immediate adaptation action and for mitigation and adaptation planning, while Developing country leaders expressed a willingness to undertake additional mitigation actions with the financial and technical support of Developed countries.  Now, negotiations in Copenhagen must find an efficient and effective way to implement these arrangements.

The Secretary-General has endeavoured to make the Climate Change Summit as innovative as possible, and in this vein requested leaders to submit video clips stating their positions and ideas.  These video clips were shown throughout the day and can be found, along with transcripts, here. 

UK objectives

•  To press for a legally binding deal of sufficient ambition at the 15th Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP15) in Copenhagen this December in order to keep global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels;
  
• To ensure that global emissions peak and decline within the next decade through a transition from high carbon to low carbon development;
  
• To encourage commitment from the international community in reducing global greenhouse emissions by a minimum of 50% by 2050, with developed countries taking the lead in these efforts by making cuts of at least 80% on 1990 levels;
  
• To agree ambitious mid-term targets from developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels;
• To encourage significant action from rapidly developing countries to limit their future emissions growth;
  
• To find a fair, durable way of financing action to reduce emissions and assist countries in building resilience through managing impacts and promoting adaptation to climate change
  
• To support the inclusion of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in developing countries as an essential element of a deal in Copenhagen.  REDD has significance for local communities and indigenous peoples, for biodiversity and adaptation to climate change, as well as a key role in emissions mitigation.