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News Tip: Success of U.N. Climate Summit Hinges on Plans, Not Speeches, Expert Says

Jeremy Ashton

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is calling on world leaders to bring concrete plans to the 2019 Climate Action Summit in New York Sept. 23 that substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.
 

  • Quotes:
    "The U.N. Secretary-General has been working behind the scenes to galvanize greater climate change ambition. The U.N. Climate Action Summit culminates this work, and will reveal new, tangible commitments from major countries, cities, businesses and varied coalitions to reduce emissions and respond to climate impacts," says Jackson Ewing, a senior fellow at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions who will be attending the summit.

    "The summit seeks to accelerate negotiations within the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, where the details of how to respond to climate change are ploddingly ironed out.”

    "The summit's success hinges on the character of the commitments put forth and the less-public efforts of practitioners meeting on the sidelines to strategize on how to take them forward. For months, Secretary-General Guterres has called on global leaders to bring 'plans,' not 'speeches' with them to New York. Next week, the world will see if they've listened."
     

  • Bio:
    Jackson Ewing     holds a joint appointment at Duke University as a Nicholas Institute senior fellow and an adjunct associate professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy. He works closely with the Duke Kunshan University Environmental Research Center and International Masters of Environmental Policy programs to build policy research collaboration in the United States and China. Ewing has led initiatives on Asian carbon market and green finance development to address transboundary environmental threats and foster climate change cooperation among the world’s largest emitters.
    https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/people/jackson-ewing
     
  • For additional comment, contact Jackson Ewing at:
    jackson.ewing@duke.edu; WeChat: JacksonEwing

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Media Contact:
Jeremy Ashton
(919) 613-4361; jeremy.ashton@duke.edu