LONDON, December 13. /TASS/. The countries that account for 70% of the global economy remain committed to zero carbon emission goals, according to a final statement of the Climate Ambition Summit 2020, held in a virtual format on Saturday.

"Today’s Summit showed beyond doubt that climate action and ambition are on the rise. The announcements at or just before the Summit, together with those expected early next year, mean that countries representing around 65% of global CO2 emissions, and around 70% of the world’s economy, will have committed to reaching net zero emissions or carbon neutrality by early next year," reads the final statement of the summit, presided by the United Nations, the United Kingdom and France, in participation with Chile and Italy.

On the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, Finland, Austria and Sweden declared they were ready to achieve the zero carbon emission goal by 2030, 2040 and 2045, respectively.

Besides, Denmark undertook to end oil and gas exploration, while China announced intentions to increase the share of non-fossil fuel in primary energy consumption to around 25% by 2030. In turn, the UK government said it was preparing to end support for the fossil fuel sector overseas as soon as possible.

According to the document, climate-vulnerable countries also were at the forefront of action. For example, Fiji, Malawi, Nauru and Nepal indicated that they were aiming for the 2050 zero carbon emission goal.

Apart from that, participants of the summit announced the launch of a major new global campaign, headlined the Race to Resilience, which sets a goal of safeguarding 4 billion people vulnerable to climate risks by 2030. Within the framework of this initiative, Swiss company Zurich Insurance announced that the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance will triple funding by 2025 and expand its reach from 11 to 21 countries.

The summit’s participants also stressed their commitment to attract $100 billion in 2021 for measures needed to adapt to impacts of the climate change.

"The Summit has now sent strong signals that more countries and more businesses are ready to take the bold climate action on which our future security and prosperity depend," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. "Today was an important step forward, but it's not yet enough. Let's not forget that we are still on track to an increase of temperature of 3 degrees at least in the end of the century, which would be catastrophic."

"The recovery from COVID-19 presents an opportunity to set our economies and societies on a green path in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," he continued. "As we look ahead, the central objective of the United Nations for 2021 is to build a truly Global Coalition for Carbon Neutrality."

 

Paris Climate Agreement’s anniversary

The Paris Agreement, signed at the COP 21 UN Climate Change Conference in the French capital on December 12, 2015, sets a goal of keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial average by 2100. The agreement, in particular, provides for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In Russia, the agreement came into force in November 2019. As of October 2020, it was ratified by 189 countries. US President Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from the deal in 2017.

The Climate Ambition Summit 2020, timed to coincide with the deal’s fifth anniversary on Saturday, brought together 75 heads of states and governments, company executives and public organizations, to define new and ambitious tasks for mitigating the effects of the climate change and adapting to them.