UN chief Ban Ki-moon calls on world leaders to act now on global warming

UN chief calls on nations to 'make history' by taking steps to make the planet carbon neutral

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Ban Ki-moon appeals to leaders from 120 countries. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:30am, 24 Sep 2014Updated: 7:33am, 24 Sep 2014

The largest gathering of world leaders on climate change opened at the United Nations yesterday, facing calls for action to put the planet on course towards reversing global warming.

"Today, we must set the world on a new course," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told leaders from 120 countries. "I am asking you to lead."

The one-day meeting is the first high-level gathering since the Copenhagen conference on climate change ended in disarray in 2009.

Filipinos walk among trash at a dike in Manila, the Philippines. Countries and organizations began to announce measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and divest in fossil fuels on the one-day UN Climate Summit, where more pledges to reduce climate change are expected. Photo: EPA

Diplomats and climate activists see the event as crucial to building momentum ahead of the Paris conference in late 2015 that is to yield a deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions after 2020. But no-shows from the leaders of China, the world's biggest polluter, and India, the No3 carbon emitter, cast a cloud over the event.

Ban was joined at the opening by former US vice-president and climate crusader Al Gore, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, Chinese actress Li Bingbing and Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate panel, which won the Nobel peace prize in 2007.

France pledged up to US$1 billion to the UN Green Climate Fund, which helps finance climate change reform in poorer countries, and the US was also expected to make pledges.

Protesters demanding economic and political changes to curb the effects of global warming march toward the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. Photo: AFP

French President Francois Hollande said the Paris conference should deliver a "global and ambitious" deal and warned that climate change posed a "threat to world peace and security."