The message at the summit may have been bleak but Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and Emmanuel Macron were all smiles as they posed for a selfie later in the evening. Photo / AP
The message at the summit may have been bleak but Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and Emmanuel Macron were all smiles as they posed for a selfie later in the evening. Photo / AP
French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a bleak assessment on the global fight against climate change to dozens of world leaders and company executives yesterday, telling them: "We are losing the battle."
"We're not moving quickly enough. We all need to act," Macron said, seeking to breathe new life into acollective effort that was weakened this year when President Donald Trump said he was pulling the United States out of an international accord brokered in the French capital two years ago.
Macron, who has worked to establish his role as a global leader since his sweeping election win in May, said modern-day science was revealing with each day the danger that global warming posed to the planet.
"We are losing the battle," he said, urging a new phase in the fight against global warming.
France announced a raft of 12 non-binding commitments, from a US$300 million ($431.8m) pledge to fight desertification to accelerating the transition toward a decarbonised economy.
But there was no headline promise likely to reassure poor nations on the sharp end of climate change that they will be better able to cope.
Public and private financial institutions pledged to channel more funds to spur the transition to a green economy and investors said they would pressure corporate giants to shift toward more ecologically friendly strategies.
Among the commitments, more than 200 institutional investors with US$26 trillion in assets under management said they would step up pressure on the world's biggest corporate greenhouse gas emitters to combat climate change.
That, they said, would be more effective than threatening to pull the plug on their investments in companies, which include Coal India, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.
The European Commission, meanwhile, said it was "looking positively" at plans to reduce capital requirements for environmentally friendly investments by banks in a bid to boost the green economy.
Climate change is causing more frequent and severe flooding, droughts, storms and heatwaves as average global temperatures rise to new records, sea ice melts in the Arctic and sea levels rise.
Developing nations say the rich are lagging with a commitment dating back to 2009 to provide US$100 billion a year by 2020 — from public and private sources alike — to help them switch from fossil fuels to greener energy sources and adapt to the effects of climate change.
Yesterday, the European Commission announced €9b ($15.2b) worth of investments targeting sustainable cities, sustainable energy and sustainable agriculture for Africa and EU neighbourhood countries.
Yet the United Nations Environment Programme says the cost of adapting to climate change in developing countries could rise to between US$280b and US$500b per year by 2050.
"Despite the hype, the One Planet summit is delivering little for the world's people who are the most vulnerable to climate change," said Brandon Wu, director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA.
"Rich countries continue to pretend that new schemes for businessmen to increase their profits will be the centre of the solution for the poor."
France backs scientists
It is a dream come true for United States-based climate scientists — the offer of an all-expenses-paid life in France to advance their research in Europe instead of in the US under climate sceptic President Donald Trump, two of the winners say.
American scientist Camille Parmesan and British scientist Benjamin Sanderson are among the 18 initial winners, including 13 based in the US, of French President Emmanuel Macron's "Make Our Planet Great Again" climate grants.
French President Emmanuel Macron (centre) attends the Tech for Planet event at the Station F start up campus ahead of the One Planet Summit in Paris, France. Photo / AP
Parmesan is excited to be doing her research in France for the next five years instead of the US. A scientist from the University of Texas at Austin, she is a leader in the field on how climate affects wildlife.
She lived in Britain and was considering returning to the US until Trump's election. "He very, very rapidly has been actively trying to erode science in the USA and in particular climate science," she said. "And it's hard for two reasons: Funding is becoming almost impossible, and in a psychological sense."
Parmesan answered with enthusiasm Macron's appeal for climate researchers to come work in France, minutes after Trump's rejection of the Paris climate accord. "It gave me such a psychological boost, it was so good to have that kind of support, to have the head of state saying I value what you do," she said.
Sanderson, who also worked in the US, said he found it "very reassuring" that France is "openly encouraging climate research".
France's Ministry of Research said the selection of the laureates focused on "scientific excellence and relevance to the call".
