UN climate summit sees 'clear ambition, concrete initiatives': UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that the Climate Action Summit held at the UN headquarters has seen "clear ambition and concrete initiatives."

In his closing remarks for the one-day event, Guterres thanked the participants for "delivering" on his call to put forward concrete action toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

According to the UN chief, a group of the world's largest asset-owners, responsible for directing more than 2 trillion US dollars, committed to move to carbon-neutral investment portfolios by 2050.

Multilateral and National Development Banks have increased their pledges, he said, adding that 130 banks, one-third of the global banking sector, signed up to align their businesses with the Paris agreement objectives and the UN sustainable development goals.

In addition, the UN chief reiterated the call to guarantee the implementation of the commitment by developed countries to mobilize 100 billion dollars a year from private and public sources by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

He praised the small island states' announced commitment to carbon neutrality and to move to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

Turning to nature-based solutions, he said over 150 of them aiming to cut carbon emissions were announced, including initiatives by way of conserving 30 percent of the land and waters by 2030, and protecting the Central African Forest and the 60 million people who depend on it.

The United Nations itself also made its commitment at the meeting. The world body's pension fund, which manages 68 billion dollars in assets, announced that it will divest from investments in publicly traded companies in the coal energy sector and will not make any new investments in it.