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Online climate meet offers talkfest without the gas
MAJURO, Marshall Islands, Nov 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – World leaders will
participate in an innovative climate change summit on Thursday that will take
place entirely online so it is carbon neutral.
The eco-friendly event stands in stark contrast to many other international
political summits, which involve thousands of delegates jetting across the
world to a venue where they stay in air-conditioned comfort.
The Virtual Climate Summit is the brainchild of Marshall Islands President
Hilda Heine, whose low-lying Pacific island nation will drown beneath rising
seas if global warming continues unabated.
Heine said the event — with participants including French President
Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau — will be the first global political meeting to be
held online.
It will consist of a rolling, 24-hour livestream that will begin in the
Marshalls’ capital Majuro, then include addresses from leaders and panel
discussions before delivering a declaration.
Heine said the cutting-edge setup was designed to show that even small
nations such as the Marshalls could make a big difference on the world stage
using creative, climate-friendly solutions.
“If we can act, so can any nation,” she said in a statement ahead of the
summit, which is being held by the 48-nation Climate Vulnerable Forum, headed
by Heine.
The virtual summit’s main aim is to encourage the international community
to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above
pre-industrial levels.
A UN report warned last month that threshold could be reached as early as
2030 unless there was unprecedented global action to rein in emissions.
The latest round of UN climate talks, COP24, will open in the southern
Polish city of Katowice on December 2 with the aim of reinvigorating the
Paris agreement reached three years ago.
Heine said the virtual summit was a chance for those on the front line of
climate change to make their voices heard.
“We don’t stand alone, people everywhere have awoken to climate perils,”
she said. “Everyone’s way of life is under threat.”
By contrast, organisers of the UN’s COP21 climate talks in Paris in 2015
estimated it generated 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, although much of this
was later offset through carbon-credit schemes.
The summit can be viewed at www.virtualclimatesummit.org from 8:00 am
Thursday Marshall Islands time (2000 GMT Wednesday).
BSS/AFP/GMR/0947 hrs