The Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made addressing climate change a cornerstone of his tenure, determined to keep the issue at the top of the international agenda.
Urging leaders to show greater commitment — Ahead of the 2011 conference on climate change , Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders to step up the international effort to find solutions to climate change, saying that governments needed to show greater commitment to achieving success at global negotiations on limiting emissions of greenhouse gases and strengthening adaptation measures. Mr. Ban stressed that governments should build on agreements reached at the United Nations climate change conference in Cancún, Mexico , last year where progress was made on addressing deforestation, climate change adaptation, technology sharing and short- and long-term financing.
Making progress — He praised participants of the Conference of Parties to UNFCCC in Durban, South Africa which concluded 11 December, 2011 for making a decisive move towards operationalization of all the agreements made the previous year in Cancún. “Taken together, these agreements represent an important advance in our work on climate change,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the Durban Platform.
High-level research — In 2009 Ban created a High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability tasked with finding ways to lift people out of poverty while tackling climate change and ensuring that economic development is environmentally friendly. In 2010 he established a High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing to study potential sources of revenue that will enable achievement of the level of climate change financing that was promised during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. Download and read the report here.
Keeping the spotlight on climate change — Mr. Ban has seen the evidence of our changing climate in many parts of the world during his travels. During a 2011 trip to discuss climate change and sustainability with leaders in the Pacific, Mr. Ban got a first-hand look at the impact of rising sea levels on the low-lying island nation of Kiribati. He described Kiribati as being at the “front of the frontlines” on climate change, stating that “the high tide shows that it is high time to act.”
Mr. Ban’s historic trip to Antarctica in November 2007 — the first such official visit undertaken by a Secretary-General – drew attention to the effects of climate change on the frozen continent and the importance of safeguarding the planet’s future. While there, he was briefed by scientists at a Chilean Air Force base before visiting the Collins Glaciers and the Sejong Research Centre.
The way forward — Throughout his work, the Secretary-General has called on world leaders to embrace the climate challenge, and underscored that the costs of inaction – in ecological, human and financial terms – far outweigh the costs of action now. The High-level Event on Climate Change– entitled The Future in Our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change – convened by the Secretary-General on 24 September 2007 spurred action to launch negotiations in Bali in December of that year. More than 70 Heads of State and Government attended the event, sending a signal of their determination to act decisively going forward.
