UN climate summit
Heads of state met in New York on climate change
The high-level event which took place one day before the opening of the UN General Assembly's annual General Debate was aimed at securing political commitment and building momentum for the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali where negotiations about a new international climate agreement should start. The Bali meeting, from 3 to 14 December, will convene the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The UN summit was organised in four parallel sessions, covering adaptation to climate change, mitigation of greenhouse-gas emissions, technology and financing.
The president of the European Commission, Mr. Barroso, the French president Mr. Sarkozy and the German Chancellor Ms. Merkel spoke at this conference. But US President G. Bush refused to show up!
Indeed, on Thursday and Friday, the US will host a kind of "counter-summit" in Washington with the world's 16 biggest polluters, plus representatives of the European Union and the United Nations. Together these economies represent around 90 percent of global emissions. Initiated by Bush, the meeting will launch a 15-month process during which these economies can spell out what they intend to do on climate change... But concrete and strong actions are needed not intentions!
