Climate change a key talking point in New York

With global temperatures rising, superstorms taking a deadly toll and a year-end deadline to firm up the Paris climate deal, leaders at the General Assembly are feeling a sense of urgency to keep up the momentum on combating climate change.

Leaders will be devoting substantial time in New York this week to the question of global warming and how to rein it in.

There will be talk of emissions targets and the need to adapt to the inevitable changes already under way when small island states take the floor. Ministers from major economies, meanwhile, will be meeting behind closed doors to discuss who will pay to help poor countries avoid the worst effects of global warming – and prevent a wave of climate refugees in future.

Outside the confines of the United Nations, campaigners and businesspeople will meet during New York Climate Week, while on Wednesday is the second edition of French President Emmanuel Macron’s One Planet Summit.

About the only leader not expected to dwell on climate change is Donald Trump, who last year announced his intention to withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris accord. He says it represents a bad deal for the American people.

His stance is not shared by many US governors, mayors and businesspeople who met recently in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit, an event to show that parts of America are firmly behind the Paris agreement, with its goal of limiting the worldwide temperature rise by 2100 to less than 2°C above what it was in pre-industrial times.

“These meetings are incredibly important for building confidence and co-operation,” said Svenja Schulze, Germany’s environment minister.

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to be released at the beginning of October, is expected to say that the toughest target set in Paris three years ago – keeping warming at 1.5°C – will be almost impossible to meet.