Largest-Ever Meeting of World Leaders on Climate Change Concludes

Yesterday's Climate Summit 2014 in New York City brought together the largest-ever meeting of world leaders on climate change, with more than 125 world leaders and top government officials in attendance. The meeting, called together by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the theme of "Catalyzing Action", sought to challenge leaders to announce bold actions to significantly reduce CO2 emissions, strengthen climate resilience, and mobilize political will for a meaningful legal agreement to be negotiated in Paris in December 2015. “We need to take action now to limit global temperature rise,” said the secretary-general, in opening the session. “We need all hands on deck to ride out this storm.” Plenty of bold promises were indeed made at the meeting, giving hope that next year's climate summit will succeed in negotiating a treaty that will slow down the current record-setting rate of rise in global CO2 emissions. I present below a few of the notable actions and promises made at yesterday's summit and in the days leading up to the event.


Figure 1. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Obama promises new U.S. efforts
President Obama promised that in early 2015, the U.S. would announce new, ambitious goals for emissions of greenhouse gases for the post-2020 period. He also announced plans to have federal agencies begin factoring climate resilience into international development programs and investments, to help vulnerable nations better prepare for weather-related disasters, and better plan for long-term threats like steadily rising seas. He opened his speech with this: "The climate is changing faster than our efforts to address it. The alarm bells keep ringing. Our citizens keep marching. We cannot pretend we do not hear them. We have to answer the call. We know what we have to do to avoid irreparable harm. We have to cut carbon pollution in our own countries to prevent the worst effects of climate change. We have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer avoid. And we have to work together as a global community to tackle this global threat before it is too late." 


Figure 2. Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli speaks at the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

China promises to slow down emissions
President Xi Jinping chose not to attend the meeting, and sent Zhang Gaoli, his vice premier, to address the UN. Zhang said that China, the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, would slow the rise of its emissions and reach a peak "as soon as possible." Zhang said China will reveal its goals for reducing emissions for the post-2020 period in early 2015, just as the U.S. promised. As analyzed in detail by Mashable's Andrew Freedman, "the mere mention of a peak in China's carbon dioxide emissions was new and ambitious, considering how quickly the Chinese economy has grown in recent years and how fast emissions have risen as well. During the past decade, for example, China saw about 10% per year increases in carbon dioxide emissions, although that slowed in 2013."

New York City to cut CO2 emissions 80% by 2050
On Saturday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan to reduce the city’s emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 80 percent over the next four decades. Mayor de Blasio called for “urgent, daring action” in his remarks at the summit, and said he expected to cooperate with leaders of other cities and countries.

Rockefeller Foundation announces plans to divest from fossil fuel companies
The heirs to the Rockefeller oil fortune announced on Sunday that the $860 million philanthropic organization would sell all their assets tied to fossil fuel companies. Divestment from fossil fuel investments has increased significantly in recent years, with 656 individuals and 181 institutions, including philanthropies, religious organizations, pension funds and local governments, divesting assets worth more than $50 billion from portfolios, according to Arabella Advisors, an investment consulting firm.

The World Resources Institute has a more detailed analysis of the outcomes from the U.N. Climate Summit, as does carbonbrief.org.

Quiet in the tropics
The tropics are unusually quiet for September, with no tropical cyclones active. In the Atlantic, none of our reliable models for predicting tropical cyclone genesis shows anything developing over the next five days. A tropical wave coming off the coast of Africa on Friday may be something to watch for development late next week in the Caribbean, the GFS model is predicting, but it is too early to assign a probability of such an event occurring. Dry air will interfere with development of this wave as it crosses between the coast of Africa and the Lesser Antilles Islands. In the Eastern Pacific, a well-organized tropical disturbance (99E) a few hundred miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico was given 5-day odds of development of 90% by NHC in their 8 am EDT Wednesday Tropical Weather Outlook. Our reliable computer models keep 99E well offshore of the coast of Mexico this week as the storm heads west-northwest.

Jeff Masters