The Climate Summit 2014 (sometimes also referred to as the Leader's Climate Summit) was a meeting on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

in New York on September 23, 2014. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced it in September 2013 and invited leaders of governments, the private sector, and civil society to unite in taking concrete action towards a

low-carbon A low-carbon economy (LCE) or decarbonised economy is an economy based on energy sources that produce low levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHG emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mi ...

emission world. The Climate Summit 2014's focus was on initiatives and actions rather than on negotiations between countries. It was seen as a milestone towards closing the ''emissions gap'' between reduction pledges and the necessary emission cuts for the 2 °C scenario (with "pursue efforts to" limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C). It was also seen as a key step towards a new legal agreement on climate change, the Paris Agreement, which was adopted by the COP21 in Paris in December 2015 and became effective in November 2016. Another direct product of the Climate Summit 2014 was the

New York Declaration on Forests The New York Declaration on Forests is a voluntary and non-legally binding political declaration which grew out of dialogue among governments, companies and civil society, spurred by the United Nations Secretary-General of the United Nations, Secret ...

Developments and positions prior to the Summit

After the COP19 in Warsaw, the Climate Summit was the next high-level gathering on climate change. Since the Kyoto Protocol's second commitment period expired in 2020, the

UNFCCC The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in th ...

process attempts to establish a new worldwide contract about climate protection and emission reduction objectives, drafted in 2014 at the COP20 in Lima and adopted in 2015 at the COP21 in Paris. The Climate Summit in September 2014 was not part of this negotiating process, but served as a kick-off for a year of intense activity in climate policy and an indicator on the countries' ambitions to reduce emissions and support climate protection. Having this in mind, UN Secretary-General Ban invited leaders of governments, the private sector and

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.John Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008. Kufuor's career has been spe ...

, and

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

, former Prime Minister of Norway, as special envoys on climate change, to assist Ban in connection with the Climate Summit and provide strategic advice. In preparation for the Climate Summit, on May 4 and 5 the ''Abu Dhabi Ascent'' was held in Abu Dhabi,

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, as a meeting in order to cross-link initiatives between governments, the private sector and civil society and to "generate momentum" for the Climate Summit. In July 2014, Ban Ki-moon appointed former

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

, and former

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

, a special envoy for climate change to interact with global leaders ahead of the Climate Summit, to forge political commitment towards finalizing an agreement in 2015.

Location and participation

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The Climate Summit took place at

UN Headquarters zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on September 23, 2014, one day ahead of the annual General Assembly Debate. Corporations of the Fossil fuel industry and other vested interests and their lobbying arms, such as the

Global Climate Coalition The Global Climate Coalition (GCC) (1989–2001) was an international lobbyist group of businesses that opposed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and publicly challenged the science behind global warming. The GCC was the largest industry g ...

(GCC), sent large delegations to the Summit to participate in the discussions, as they have in every major international climate conference for decades. The participation of such vested interests was rarely reported by network news or other major news outlets. This industry-funded GCC undertook to undermine established climate science data, to highlight uncertainties, and accordingly, to advocate for inaction by the public and governments.Climate Investigations Center, 25 Apr. 201
"Global Climate Coalition: Climate Denial Legacy Follows Corporations"
A major protest against climate change took place outside the conference and on Sunday two days before the conference in other countries worldwide to encourage the leaders to take strong climate action.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Climate Summit 2014''
(un.org) United Nations climate change conferences United Nations Secretariat Civil society

UN Climate Summit The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Events in New York City

International conferences in the United States 2010s in Manhattan

Headquarters of the United Nations

Developments and positions prior to the Summit

Location and participation

See also

References

External links