The United Nations secretary general, the president of the World Bank, and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael Bloomberg all lined up alongside French President Emmanuel Macron this week to host the second annual One Planet Summit, with the goal of mobilizing financing to support climate action.
The summit was part of Climate Week NYC, timed to coincide with the annual UN General Assembly.
“We are not here just to speak but to be accountable,” Macron said. “Here we will see what is working and what is not working. What we need is action.”
Major announcements during the summit included:
- BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, pledging to launch a new investment fund for renewable energy and low-carbon transit in Africa, Asia, and Latin America;
- The World Bank allocating US$1 billion to develop battery storage technology;
- Google promising a tool to measure carbon pollution from traffic and offering up Google Earth as a tool to measure the solar potential of the world’s cities;
- Bloomberg unveiling plans for a new Wall Street Network on Sustainable Finance;
- The EU, France, and New Zealand announcing new funding and programs.
