Celebrities join world leaders at Paris climate anniversary event
● Investors to take on worst polluters ● Penn and Gates on guest list
An international summit to mark the second anniversary of the Paris climate agreement yesterday drew world leaders, celebrities, companies and environmental groups to the French capital, all aiming to keep up momentum on efforts to curb global warming.
Financial institutions used the meeting to highlight the need to make sure their investments do not suffer or contribute to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and more extreme weather around the world.
A group of institutional investors calling themselves Climate Action 100+ said it would use its financial clout to raise the issue of climaterelated risk with companies.
The group, made up of 225 investment funds managing more than $26 trillion in assets, said it will focus its efforts on 100 of the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters.
The idea is that companies will heed the concerns of major funds because they do not want to be considered a bad investment due to the financial risks that climate change might pose for their business.
More than 50 world leaders attended the summit that French president Emmanuel Macron hopes will give new momentum to the fight against global warming despite US president Donald Trump’s rejection of the Paris climate accord. Sean Penn, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Gates and Elon Musk were among prominent figures who also went to the summit.
Activists kept up pressure with a protest in the shadow of the domed Pantheon monument calling for an end to all investment in oil, gas and resource mining.
“Financial pledges need to flow faster through more streamlined system and make a difference on the ground,” said Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama, whose island nation is among those on the front lines of the rising sea levels and extreme storms worsened by human-made emissions.
“We are all in the same canoe”, rich countries and poor, Mr Bainimarama said.
Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono described ways his country is investing in climate monitoring technology and hydrogen energy, but said “we have to do more and better”.
About 3,100 security personmr nel fanned out around Paris for the event, including extra patrol boats along the River Seine. Mr Macron accompanied the visiting leaders to the summit site, on a river island, by boat.
Mr Macron, who is also using the event to raise his international profile, did not invite the US president.
On Monday, the French president awarded 18 climate scientists – most of them based in the US – multi-million-euro grants to relocate to France for the rest of Mr Trump’s term.
Trump has expressed scepticism about global warming and said the Paris accord would hurt American business.
The summit, co-hosted by the United Nations, World Bank and Mr Macron, is being held on the second anniversary of the Paris climate accord, which was ratified by 170 countries. Germany’s Angela Merkel, who was once labelled the “climate chancellor” for her efforts to curb global warming, has faced domestic criticism for failing to attend the summit.
Annalena Baerbock, a spokeswoman on climate issues for Germany’s opposition Green party, said that Mr Macron appeared to be overtaking his German counterpart as Europe’s leading lobbyist on climate issues.
“I think that’s not a good sign,” Ms Baerbock said. She said Germany had lost international credibility on the issue by allowing its carbon emissions to stagnate over the past decade and refusing to join a recent international declaration on ending the use of coal.