UN Summit Sets Goals to Combat Climate Change
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Nations attending a UN summit on climate change agreed goals to widen the use of renewable energy and raise billions of dollars in aid for developing countries in an effort to slow global warming.
The one-day summit set goals to halt losses of tropical forests by 2030, improve food production and increase the share of electric vehicles in cities to 30 percent of new vehicle sales by 2030.
The non-binding initiatives were set by various coalitions of governments, multinational companies, cities, financial groups, investors, environmental organizations and other groups.
The targets are meant to help prepare a 200-nation summit in Paris in late 2015 to finalize a deal to slow global warming.
Governments and investors said they would raise more than $200 billion in climate financing by the end of 2015, including $30 bn in green bonds by commercial banks and $100 bn from a group of development banks.
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said the funds would "serve as a catalyst in finalizing a universal and meaningful agreement at Paris on climate change in 2015".
The UN said pledges of financial support would give a "significant boost" to a promise by rich nations in 2009 to raise $100 bn a year by 2020 from all sources to help poor countries shift to renewable energy and adapt to heatwaves, droughts and rising seas, Al Jazeera reported.
