Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and Luis Alfonso de Alba
– By Kunzang Lhamo
United Nations – 17 September 2019 – Press conference by Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General
and Luis Alfonso de Alba, Un secretary-General’s special Envoy for the 2019 Climate
Summit.
During the Press Conference today at the UN, AminaJ. Mohammed briefed reporters on the
overview of the types of initiative that can be expected from the coming Climate Action
Summit. She stated “ the Summit will present practical and new measures to One, speed up
the transition from coal to clean energy and to cut the pollution that is harming our health.
Second,to protect nature but also unlock the potential of nature to deliver climate solutions.”
continuing on to third “to crete cleaner, greener ways to work and to move, speed up the
transition and key sectors from grey to green economies, safeguard people from the impact
of climate change has already been felt right now, and help make sure that we leave no one
behind.”
She said that the Climate Action Summit is where the Ideas will become concrete plans,
which will boost the Climate Action at the country level but only works if everyone gets on
board, Governments, Businesses, and the people to join them everywhere on the initiative
so that we can have an impact at the scale that we need for moving beyond the pilots and
that it is going to be crucial.
There is going to be Five Summit at the UN next week, on which she said “it’s time to ratchet
up the actions that we need to have at the country level”, adding that “we do need to kick
that movement to a much higher gear if we are to reach the goals that are being outlined by
science”, in the case of climate and SDGs.
Mohammed quote General Secretary when he announced the Summit “only the boldest and
the most transformative action would make the stage at the General Assembly.” Adding that
“those Country that brings the boldest, courageous action and ambition will find a place on
the stage, on Monday.” Importantly the Summit will show the progressive plans towards the
carbon neutral future.
On Coal, Deputy Secretary-General stated, “we know that the transition of coal is not a one-
size-fits-all. It is complex. In many countries, renewables are already cheaper than coal and
the transition is well underway. In other countries, the transition needs more support and
particular funding options for renewables.” She continued, “It's not enough that we stop
funding coal and funding must be actively move towards making renewables possible. So
there is a tension there, that we need to pay specific attention to.”
Mohammed said “there are over hundred coal plans in the pipeline today. Emissions are
rising, the pathway is a serious threat to human survival, the pathways that we follow now”
and commented that the Secretary General has been so bland in his cause for no new coal
plans from 2020 onwards.
Making a strong statement expressing that “the stakes are much too high for us to be
politically safe here and suddenly too high to give up. The road ahead is quite long.”
Concluding she remarks that the objective of the week is to further extend for the ranks of
the global movement for sustainable development and to engage the world’s young people
and to better direct that movement to actions that we will have the greater impact, again at
the country level.
The UN youth Climate Summit is a platform for the young leaders to present their plans for
solutions on the climate Issue, every bit of the Climate Action is key, the event will take place
on saturday, september 21 at the United Nations Headquarters.
The actual UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit on monday, September 23.
Source: EuropaNewswire