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Recognizing the United Nations on the occasion of their historic 2019 Climate Action Summit.
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WHEREAS, On September 23, 2019, the United Nations will gather for the Climate Action Summit, convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The goal is to address the consequential issue of climate change by actualizing strategies for the nations of the world to rapidly achieve objectives outlined in the transformational Paris Climate Agreement; and
WHEREAS, The UN is to be commended for recognizing the growing necessity of climate action and, thus, taking pivotal steps to curb its momentum via the Climate Summit. Specific noteworthy objectives of this summit include, but are not limited to: increasing national ambition at a global level, hearing from young people who are crying out for change, and generating further political and social momentum for this critical cause; and
WHEREAS, Numerous world executives from sectors including government, finance, business, and civil society have been included in the upcoming UN Climate Summit on Monday, September 23, 2019. Sixteen-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg is one of the social advocates who will be in attendance at the summit. In addition to the former, Secretary-General Guterres asked for the attendance of all Heads of State and Governments so that they may present both their progress and their future targets regarding various climate resilience actions; and
WHEREAS, Specifically, as part of the Climate Summit, “UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling on all leaders to come to New York on 23 September with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050”; and
WHEREAS, The UN will also hold a historic Youth Climate Summit on September 21, 2019, inviting young people driving climate action between the ages of 18 and 29 to attend, with a particular focus on the inclusion of powerful youth leaders in the Global South; and
WHEREAS, Other goals of the Climate Summit include consideration of effective plans for improvement in fields such as energy transition, industry transition, nature-based solutions, cities and local action, resilience and adaptation, climate finance, and carbon pricing; and
WHEREAS, The importance of this summit cannot be overstated. Across the globe, humans are facing alarming and devastating consequences of climate change at an unprecedented rate. With global emissions reaching record levels, and Arctic temperatures rising by more than three degrees Celsius since 1990, every nation must cooperate to put a halt to these dangers before it is too late. As professed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an interview for TIME Magazine, "Climate change is not a problem for multilateralism, climate change is a problem for us all. But I think climate change offers an opportunity for multilateralism to prove its value”; and
WHEREAS, The Climate Summit is as a natural next step for the Paris Agreement of 2015, where almost 200 countries came together and reached a consensus about the importance of combating climate change during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 21st Conference of Parties. Plans for transparency, accountability, and the achievement of more ambitious goals resulted from this agreement, and the Climate Summit intends to hold nations accountable for reaching their targets; and
WHEREAS, To follow up on the commitments made at this summit, the 25th meeting to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will occur from December 2nd to December 13th in Santiago, Chile; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby recognize the United Nations on the occasion of their historic 2019 Climate Action Summit.
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