UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will convene a summit to mobilize political and economic energy at the highest levels to advance climate action that will enable implementation of many of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The UN 2019 Climate Summit will convene on the theme, ‘Climate Action Summit 2019: A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win.’ It will seek to challenge states, regions, cities, companies, investors and citizens to step up action in the areas of energy transition, climate finance and carbon pricing, industry transition, nature-based solutions, cities and local action, and resilience.
In preparation for the Summit, nine coalitions have been established in order to ensure transformative outcomes, according to a briefing for Member States. The coalitions focus on the following action areas: 1) social and political drivers of change; 2) transition to renewable energy; 3) industry; 4) infrastructure, cities and local action; 5) nature-based solutions; 6) resilience and adaptation; 7) mitigation; 8) finance and carbon pricing; and 9) youth and citizen mobilization.
The Summit will be preceded by a series of pre-Summit events held the week-end prior. On Saturday, 21 September, a Youth Climate Summit will take place, co-organized by the Executive Office of the Secretary-General and the Envoy of the Secretary-General on Youth. On 21 and 22 September, the nine multi-stakeholder coalitions will present their work in parallel Summit events, co-organized with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. The multi-stakeholder coalitions will then present to the Secretary-General a synthesis of their work in a meeting to be held on the afternoon of 22 September.
The Summit will build on the outcomes of the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS), the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 73), the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the UNFCCC, and the Global Conference on Strengthening Synergies between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, among others. A stocktaking meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), will serve as a preparatory meeting for the Summit, and the outcomes of in-depth review of SDG 13 (climate action) by the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) convened by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in July will inform the Summit.
Convening during Climate Week NYC 2019 and in parallel to the opening of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 74), the Summit is one of several high-level events scheduled to take place the week of 23 September. Other events include: a High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) (23 September); the SDG Summit (24-25 September); the 2019 High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development (FfD) (26 September); and a High-level Review of Progress on SAMOA Pathway.
The Summit will feed into the UNFCCC process by contributing to the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC in December 2019.
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date: 23 September 2019
location: New York City, US
www: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/