Who said what at United Nations climate summit

Dozens of world leaders came together on Monday to discuss measures to try and slow down ever-more dangerous trends in climate change at the United Nations climate summit.

Opening the summit, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "The climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win."

"Climate change is not only a threat for the end of the century climate, change is already a tragic problem of our societies. But it is true that if things go on as they are, the young generations, when they come to adult age or to the last periods of their lives, will be even more dramatically impacted. I have three grandchildren, and I don't want to be responsible for them to live in a semi-destroyed planet when they come to my age."

"We believe that an ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of preaching. In India, we are going to increase the share of non-fossil fuel in our fuel mix and increase by 2022 our renewable energy capacity to 175 gigawatts and we are committed to further increasing this to 450 gigawatts."

"The time for talking is over. The world needs to act now."

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back at school on the other side of the ocean," the 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who is taking a year off from her studies, said.

"You come to us young people for hope. How dare you?" she thundered. 

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing.

"We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"

"We need young people in our countries to tell us to take Climate Action. Things are not happening fast enough. No political decision-maker can remain deaf to the collective call for Climate Justice between generations," French President Macron said.

Macron also invited his counterparts from Chile, Colombia and Bolivia to a meeting where $500 million in extra funds were pledged by the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and non-profit Conservation International to protect the world's rainforests.

"The situation is stark. It will not be easy," Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern said.

"But our generation - we - have it within our grasp, not just to prevent the worst, but to build the best possible world for the generations to come."

"We must honour our commitments, follow through on the Paris Agreement and its implementation guidelines and see to it that both the summit and the COP25 will produce positive outcomes that will we inject fresh impetus into the post-2020 multilateral process," Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said. 

"We will continue to jointly build a Green Belt and Road through the BRI International Green Development Coalition and other platforms. We are mobilising stronger support for international cooperation against climate change." 

In a video broadcast, Pope Francis called for honesty, responsibility and courage to face what he called "one of the most serious and worrying phenomena of our time".

"While the situation is not good and the planet is suffering, the window of opportunity is still open. We are still in time," he said.

"Let us not let it close. Let us open it with our determination to cultivate integral human development, to ensure a better life for future generations. It is their future, not ours."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been criticised by activists for not doing enough, said it was her government's responsibility to "take everyone along with them," including those who doubt climate change. 

 

"What we need from the world community is partnership, because climate change is something which individual countries can't do anything unless and until the world gets together. Powerful countries must chip in and take this seriously, because unless the world community decides to take this challenge on, no individual countries are going to be effective," Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khans said.