Taking Stock of Climate Summit 2014 – What Happened and What’s Next?

By Jae-Hyong Shim, GIELR Online Staff Editor

Two days after participating in the 400,000-strong climate march that filled the streets of Manhattan, on September 23rd U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was back in more familiar territory inside the halls of the General Assembly to host the one-day Climate Summit 2014. The objective of the Summit was three-fold: (1) to raise political momentum for a meaningful, universal climate agreement to be reached in 2015; (2) to encourage further action on the part of individual countries to reduce emissions; and (3) to enlist the resources of the private sector in addressing climate change, particularly in mobilizing finance. Ban spoke animatedly about the need for “leaders to lead,” and stressed to the hundred heads of state in attendance that “we are not here to talk” but “to make history.”

* Published in collaboration with the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review (GIELR). To read more, check out GIELR's blog here.