As the Financial Times reported (and Grist noted), U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon seems to want to convene a meeting of 30 to 40 heads of state in the next few months to address climate change.
But it’s unclear exactly what’s afoot. Ban’s press office in New York said it has nothing to announce yet — no date, location, or list of attendees for the summit. Nor would it say what the U.N. chief and his climate chief, Yvo de Boer, hope to accomplish by calling a summit months in advance of the big international climate conference scheduled to take place in Copenhagen this December.
“We just don’t have anything to announce as of now,” Alex Cerniglia, a spokesperson for the secretary-general, said today. “But he’s definitely strongly engaged in the current negotiations and in reaching a deal in Copenhagen at the end of the year.”
The U.S. State Department had nothing to say on the supposed meeting either, a spokesperson said.
De Boer, the executive secretary of the U.N. climate convention, first mentioned the plans in London yesterday. He said Ban wanted to build on the momentum of Barack Obama’s inauguration as U.S. president.
Perhaps De Boer and Ban hope to piggy-back onto the Group of 20 summit scheduled to take place in London in April. The summit is already expected to focus on spurring carbon-free energy sources.
What are you hearing, dear readers?
