The Summit that Snoozed? Climate-related disasters over five years have cost almost half a trillion dollars

Since global leaders last met to discuss climate change five years ago, climate-related disasters have cost the world almost half a trillion dollars.  More than 650 million people have been affected and more than 112,000 lives have been lost. Climate change is also making more people hungry. The September 23, 2014 UN Climate Summit reflects inertia in tackling climate change rather than reversing it.  The Summit must be a wake-up call for government leaders and the private sector. 

In this media brief, The Summit that Snoozed? Oxfam analyzes the commitments being brought by government and corporate sector leaders to the Climate Summit and reveals that they fall short of what is urgently needed.  

Oxfam is calling on governments to:

• Re-commit to the 2C goal, and agree new targets to phase-out fossil fuel emissions entirely by 2050
• Increase their climate finance pledges to meet the $100bn per year by 2020 commitment, and capitalise the Green Climate Fund with at least $15bn in grant-based funds over its first three years
• Agree specific, time-bound, measurable actions in line with their responsibility for causing emissions and capacity to pay to reduce them before 2020, to keep open the chance of limiting warming to below 2C
• Submit ambitious initial pledges for the Paris UN climate conference by Spring 2015, in line with their responsibility for causing emissions and capacity to pay, and prepare to subsequently raise them as needed as part of a fair collective global effort

and the private sector to:

• Put their own houses in order by delivering faster and further near-term reductions in absolute emissions consistent with climate science, and establish goals to phase-out fossil fuel emissions entirely from their operations
• Increase their calls for strong government regulation and international agreements, including related to energy efficiency, investment in renewable energy, cutting fossil fuel subsidies, and increasing flows of climate finance for adaptation.

For more detail on the analysis presented in the Annex, please refer to the attached Assessment document.