2019 UN Climate Action Summit

Results

Governmental commitments

• Sixty-five countries and the European Union pledged to cut Greenhouse gas emission to zero by the year 2050. The number of countries making this pledge reached 77.
• Many small countries, including Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries were among the states who made the biggest steps. The Small Island Developing States collectively increased their climate targets by 2020, achieve 100% of energy from renewables sources by 2030, and achieve a zero carbon economy by 2050, provided they are helped by the international community.
• France pledged to not enter into trade deals with countries that have policies contrary to the Paris Agreement.
• Greece and Hungary pledged to close their coal-fired power plants by 2028 and 2030, respectively.
• The Global Campaign for Nature begun to function. The target of the campaign is protect 30% of the earth surface by the year 2030. Guatemala and Costa Rica are leading this initiative.
• The Climate Ambition Alliance was created. The president of the alliance is the president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera. The alliance want to unite the countries that want to increase their commitments by the year 2020. Fifty-nine countries said that they will do so. Eleven countries have begun the process of boosting their commitments.
• The Powering Past Coal Alliance became much bigger: after the summit, 32 countries, 25 states and regions, and 34 corporations are members of the alliance that wants to stop building coal power plants by the year 2020 and make transition to renewable energy.
• The organization "High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy" was created. It include 14 countries, covering a large part of the world coasts and fisheries. It seeks to protect the oceans and create marine protected areas.
• The European Union promised to give a quarter of its budget to climate action in the next year.
• China announced, that it will go through "high quality growth and low-carbon development". China created a partnership with a target of removing 12 billion tons from the annual global Greenhouse gas emission by natural solutions.
• India promised to bring their renewable energy capacity to 175 gigawatts by the 2022 and to 450 gigawatts after.
• Eighty countries joined the International Solar Alliance.
• The Russian Federation pledged to ratify the Paris Agreement, increasing the number of signatories to 187. The agreement was ratified by Russia's Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev. Russia is the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The targets for Russia in the agreement are reducing the emissions by 30% from the level of 1990 by the year 2030. The emissions of Russia in 2017 were already 32% lower than in 1990, so in fact the pledge does not decrease them. But as Russia has a growing economy relying primarily on fossil fuels, this will have some effects. Russian forests also play a role in removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.
• Pakistan pledged to plant more than 10 billion trees in the years 2019–2024.
• The "Nature-Based Solutions Coalition", composed of more than 40 countries, 150 organizations, 50 private companies, and 12 foundations, led by China and New Zealand, made important commitments:
• The Central African Forest Initiative pledged to save the forest in central Africa, the second largest tropical forest on Earth, preventing the release to the atmosphere of 70 gigatons of CO₂, and protecting the livelihoods of 60 million people.
• Pakistan pledged to restore parts of its degraded ecosystems: 30% of forests, 5% of croplands, 6% of grasslands and 10% of wetlands, what will make it land degradation neutral by 2030.
• El Salvador committed to protect 10 million hectares of forest and change the food sector, so that GHG emissions from it will be 40% lower by 2030.

  Local commitments

Cities commitments

• One hundred and two cities pledged reduce greenhouse gas emission to zero by 2050.
• The initiative "Action Toward Climate Friendly Transport" was created. It wants to plan cities in a way that will minimize the need for transport, advancing non-motorized transport and decreasing emissions. Over 100 organizations are members of this group including governments, cities, and companies.
• The initiative "Zero Carbon Building For All" pledged that by the year 2030 all new buildings will be "zero carbon". By the year 2050 all existing building will be so. Over 100 organizations are members of this group including governments, cities, and companies.

  Private sector commitments

• Eighty-seven companies and 15 investors pledged to reach zero carbon economy by the year 2050.
• One-third of the global banking sector—130 banks—said that they will work to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.
• Companies with a capitalisation of US$2.3 trillion united in an organization named "UN Global Compact" to commit to manage their businesses to achieve climate targets.
• An organization of investors, the "Asset Owner Alliance", with US$2 trillion in capital, said that by 2050 it will move to carbon-free investments.
• A platform to advance financial tools that can protect the oceans was created by the head of Axa. It is called ORRAA.

  What was not achieved

• China did not increase its Paris agreement commitments
• India did not pledge to reduce its use of coal
• The U.S. did not speak at the conference
• A prohibition of new coal plants by the year 2020 was not achieved. They are "a looming threat to us all" according to the UN Secretary-General.

  Checking what will be done

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)

Greta Thunberg attendance

"This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope? How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"