With promises to supercharge climate action, on Monday, Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced a Climate Ambition Summit will be held at the General Assembly next September. This is a promising strategy from the UN as recent studies have shown, and most recently presented at COP-15, that climate action is not sustainable or effective without greater commitment and urgency from wealthy nations.
Supplemental to COP 15 and 27, Guterres’ goal is to assure climate action remains at the forefront of the world leaders’ agendas. Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, emphasized in a press briefing on Wednesday that the summit’s purpose is to propel the cause beyond an annual topic of interest, expand conversations on climate conversations, and further commitment to the calls to action. “It’s about ensuring that we keep the political pressure on Member States.”
Initially, this may appear another conference at which promises are made but fail to deliver tangible results such as the Aichi biodiversity targets created at the 2010 summit in Nagoya, Japan. None of the 20 targets created were successfully reached. Guterres’ goal of the Climate Ambition Summit is to propel climate action goals and hold those who pledge accountable. “A no-nonsense summit. No exceptions. No compromises. There will be no room for back-sliders, greenwashers, blame-shifters or repackaging of announcements of previous years.” Guterres’ focus in September is to combat climate action stagnancy.
The Climate Ambition Summit will keep pressure applied on agreements made at both COP-15 and 27. The Secretary-General spokesperson elaborated that Guterres does not only expect previous summits’ agreements to withstand, but for global leaders to draft and present concrete, updated goals. “He doesn’t want to see any back‑sliding. He doesn’t want to see any regurgitating of promises already made, and he also is very focused on fighting this idea of green‑washing, of empty promises by either governments or the private sector.”
The shift in tone for the Climate Ambition Summit shows the UN’s commitment to addressing ongoing concerns regarding the adoption of climate-based solutions. Ongoing concerns of adopting solutions pledged at COP events range from logistical to economic and humanitarian. While the COP events are important, they are highly technical and revolve around a conference of parties. Dujarric expressed his confidence in September’s conference playing an important role in effectively implementing climate action. “Having something at the General Assembly provides an opportunity to increase the political pressure and to ensure that the messages don’t just rise up once a year during COP.” The increased pressure from the Secretary-General for concrete solutions and heightened action from wealthy countries plays an important role in maintaining the credibility of the agreements made at the COP events.
Guterres has a responsibility in assuring the Member States act as global leaders not just in word, but in action. “This is not a time to sit on the sidelines, it is a time for resolve, determination, and – yes – even hope.” The Climate Ambition Summit will play a necessary strategic role in addressing and resolving concerns in real-time while allowing for accelerated action to successfully achieve ambitious climate goals.
