At the beginning of the opening ceremony Ban Ki-Moon appealed to the world leaders for bold and ambitious decisions. ‘[People around the world] demanded that leaders lead. That is why we are here today. We are not here to talk. We are here to make history’ – he said referring to the motto of the People’s Climate March in which he himself participated two days prior – ‘actions not words’.
Higher than usual attendance and participation of the most prominent world leaders alone can be counted among the Summit’s successes but what the society paid closest attention to were the speeches. Many delegations announced certain declarations and proposals to fight with climate change and summed up the measures taken to date.
The great absentees – Prime Ministers of India, Canada and Australia - met with harsh criticism. Their countries were represented by low rank politicians whose proposals were completely out of proportion to the climate crisis and confirmed this states’ position as major climate deal blockers. Neither the speech of the President of Turkey nor the one delivered by the President of Brazil deserved applause. They declared, respectively, expanding forests and submitting a national climate adaptation plan in the next year.
The ovations went to Costa Rica for declaration to go 100% renewable by 2016 and Tuvalu whose entire energy will be clean by 2020. Denmark aims to be fossil free by 2050 and Island said it had committed to becoming an entirely fossil fuel-free economy, though without stating the exact date. Malaysia and Indonesia are on target to reduce emissions by 40% by 2020 while Ethiopia, Sweden, and Georgia will have zero net emissions between 2025 and 2050. Mexico, Chile, Uruguay and Brunei were among countries declaring to widely increase the share of green energy in their national energy mixes led with bold pledge of Nicaragua to meet 90% of energy needs through renewable resources by 2020. Mozambique and Kazakhstan will promote a low-carbon economy as a national priority while Chile, South Korea and Greece support putting a price on carbon.
The position of the European Union had not been impaired. President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso confirmed that the Community aimed at cutting emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and aspired to cut emissions by 80 to 95% compared to 1990 levels by 2050. It would also provide 14 billion Euros of public climate finance to partners outside the EU over the next 7 years. The goal is supplemented by 30% increase in energy efficiency and 27% energy produced from renewable sources. The E.U. also aims to spend 20 % of its budget for 2014 to 2020 on efforts to address global warming.