- Background
- About the High-Level Event
- Chair's Summary
- Coverage
- Programme
- Newsroom
- Special Envoys on Climate Change
- Media Accreditation
- Civil Society and Business
- FAQ
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About the High-Level Event
Secretary-General’s High-Level Event on Climate Change
The Secretary-General has identified climate change as a defining issue of our era and seeks to help facilitate international efforts to address the problem. The reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this year show clearly that the warming of the earth’s climate system is unequivocal and attributable to human activities. Climate change is already having significant impacts in certain regions — particularly in developing countries — and on most ecosystems and can affect developing countries’ ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The reports also show that the problem can be addressed and solutions are affordable. Economic assessments indicate that the cost of inaction will exceed the cost of taking early action, probably by several orders of magnitude.
More concerted multilateral action is essential to address climate change, and the time for
decisive action is now. Many initiatives are being launched and commitments undertaken by
Member States, groups of States, civil society and the private sector in this respect. These
are essential but not sufficient. A comprehensive, re-energized international response,
complemented by such national and regional efforts, is needed. The United Nations and its
Framework Convention on Climate Change offer the institutional framework within which a global
solution to this global problem can be reached. Negotiations must be advanced this December
in Bali so that a comprehensive package is ready by 2009 and legally in force by 2012. The
May 2007 meetings under the UNFCCC in Bonn made good progress and suggest a willingness of
governments to work together towards a breakthrough in Bali. The outcome of the G-8 and
the G-8 +5 Summit in Heiligendamm last week also sent an encouraging signal and is seen by
some as marking a shift in the political landscape.
Earlier this year, the Secretary-General appointed three Special Envoys to assist him with consultations with Governments on how he might facilitate progress in the multilateral climate change negotiations within the UN, as well as their views on a possible high-level event later this year. The Secretary-General and the Special Envoys have since sought the views of a representative group of Heads of State and Government. It was clear that for many of the leaders, climate change is a high priority issue — politically and personally. Widespread support was expressed for both the Secretary-General’s active involvement in this area and his convening of a high-level event.
Based on these consultations, the Secretary-General has decided to convene a high level event in New York on the day before the opening of the General Debate of the sixty-second session of the General Assembly, that is on 24 September 2007, to galvanize political will for the Bali Conference. The high-level event will seek to advance progress towards a global agreement under the UNFCCC but will not seek to engage Governments in negotiations.
The high-level event will build on progress made as of now in the framework of the UNFCCC process and recent initiatives by other organs of the United Nations, notably the thematic debate that the President of the General Assembly has announced her intention to convene. The Secretary-General encourages the participation of all Heads of State or Government in the High-Level Event and will soon be sending invitations to this effect. The event will be open to the media and considerable media attention is expected. The modalities of the High-Level Event will be determined fully through further consultations that the Secretary-General and his Special Envoys will conduct in the period leading up to the event.
Objective of the event
To promote dialogue, highlight priority issues within four broad thematic areas, and mobilize support at the highest level for a strong political signal to the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali that Governments are ready to accelerate work under the UNFCCC.
