The US president, Joe Biden, has invited 40 leaders from around the world, to the Leaders Climate Summit, the 22nd and 23rd of April. The summit will be a good opportunity for participants to share their plans, and to present their commitments and pledges, for how to take climate action. The General Secretary of the ACT Alliance, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, says, “Leaders, meeting on Earth Day, should remember that we, as humans, were given the responsibility to care for the creation, and the earth, by God. This commitment should now be turned into action.”
According to the Paris agreement, all countries should submit revised climate plans (NDCs). So far the compiled ambition, in the plans which have been submitted to the UN, are far from what is needed. Much bigger reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are required to make it possible to handle the climate crisis, and the Leaders Climate Summit could be the time, to make announcements. Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, continues, “The world needs climate leadership and we need countries showing the way. However, true leadership must be earned, through concrete action, and scaled up ambition. There are people living with the effects of climate change right now- farmers trying to save their yields from droughts and floods, and people rebuilding their houses after devastating cyclones. These are the people needing the support. I hope participants from developed countries, attending the summit, will acknowledge this need, and honour it through pledges of scaled up climate finance.”
The next formal UN climate talks will take place in June, as an online negotiation. Rudelmar Bueno de Faria concludes, “The UN climate talks have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope announcements about scaled up climate ambition, at the Leaders Climate Summit, can provide some positive energy into the negotiations. Climate change has not been put on hold during the pandemic, and the need for progress in the negotiations is vital.”
