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 E ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on September 23, 2014. UN Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

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 The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

, 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 The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part ...

's second commitment period expired in 2020, the UNFCCC 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 from all over the world to unite in action: In December 2013, Secretary-General Ban appointed the former President of Ghana, John Kufuor, 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 Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

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 Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

, 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, 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 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on September 23, 2014, one day ahead of the annual General Assembly Debate. Corporations of the

Fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...

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