United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is hosting the Climate Summit to engage leaders and advance climate action and ambition. The Summit will serve as a public platform for leaders at the highest level -- all UN Member States, as well as finance, business, civil society and local leaders from public and private sectors -- to catalyze ambitious action on the ground to reduce emissions and strengthen climate resilience and mobilize political will for an ambitious global agreement by 2015 that limits the world to a less than 2-degree Celsius rise in global temperature.

The Climate Summit will be about action and solutions that are focused on accelerating progress in areas that can significantly contribute to reducing emissions and strengthening resilience -- such as agriculture, cities, energy, financing, forests, pollutants, resilience and transportation.

The Summit is not part of the UNFCCC negotiating process. By promoting climate action, it aims to show that leaders across sectors and at all levels are taking action, thus expanding the reach of what is possible today, in 2015, and beyond.

The Case for Global Action

The benefits of taking action to address climate change have become ever more compelling. Many countries and businesses have recognized the opportunities related to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening resilience. Now is the time for leaders everywhere to join the race for transformative action that can drive economic competitiveness and sustainable prosperity for all.

Countries are presently working toward a new climate agreement and a new set of sustainable development goals that will be concluded in 2015. The objectives of both of these processes present an unprecedented opportunity.

Eradicating poverty and restructuring the global economy to hold global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius are goals that -- acted on together -- can provide prosperity and security for this and future generations.

To meet the full scale of the global climate challenge and seize the opportunities at hand, domestic efforts must be scaled up and simultaneously leveraged through an international framework that provides incentives. Combined, accelerated action and increased ambition will foster a ‘race to the top’ that can help advance sustainable development.

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