World
Business Joins Obama’s Call-to-Action on Climate
U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. Obama told the United Nations amid a U.S.-led bombing campaign against Islamic State militants that he will build a coalition to “dismantle this network of death.” (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
NEW YORK (USA Today) — At an historic summit that enlisted climate pledges from dozens of companies, President Obama called Tuesday on all United Nation members to support an agreement to curb global warming, saying “nobody gets a pass.”
“We can only succeed in combating climate change if we are joined in this effort by every nation, developed and developing alike,” Obama told the U.N. General Assembly, adding “no nation can meet this global threat alone.”
U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon organized the day-long U.N. Climate Summit to build momentum for a new international accord to be finalized during U.N. talks next year in Paris. It drew representatives from more than 120 countries, but China and India — the first- and third-largest emitters of heat-trapping greenhouse gases — did not send their heads of state.
The event comes as global emissions of these gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane, continue to rise despite prior U.N. agreements to reduce them.
