Civil society representatives have described the fact that several world leaders will not be present at the UNSG’s Climate Summit next week in New York as a telling sign of political disconnect from the everyday lives of millions of people impacted by the climate crisis.
This was made known at a press briefing organized by the Climate Action Network which comes ahead of a weekend-long global mobilisations planned from Friday under the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels, and to set expectations for the UNSG Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, on September 20 and towards COP28 in Dubai.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, appears to have set a high bar for entry – inviting leaders to speak only if they have ambitious new commitments on climate action.
UK PM Rishi Sunak’s no-show at the New York climate meet is ‘frankly embarrassing’, says one of the campaigners, adding that US President Joe Biden’s presence raises questions about optics rather than substance given the US’ lack of climate leadership.
Lauren MacDonald, Campaigner with the group #StopRosebank, said: “We know – and the UK government knows – there can be no new drilling if we want a habitable world and yet they are issuing new licenses and considering approving the massive Rosebank oil field, which would create more CO2 emissions than 28 of the poorest countries produce in a year combined. That the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is not going to the UN summit is frankly embarrassing, and highlights the hypocrisy of his government.”
Mohamed Adow, Director, Power Shift Africa, said: “While the Africa Climate Summit which was held in early September was historic in being the first climate summit focused on Africa it failed to deliver anything transformational and instead pushed for carbon markets which are nothing but ‘polluter permits’ advocated by rich companies and governments to perpetuate their own ongoing carbon pollution.
By Dare Akogun
