World leaders were expected to propose new climate change plans at the New York Open Climate Summit. Leaders of countries with plans to open new coal plants such as Japan and South Korea will not participate. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said politicians and business leaders should submit plans, not give speeches at the event. He urged them to commit to abandoning fossil fuels and to measures to slow global warming.
The UN announced before the start of the climate summit that 66 countries have joined the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Other UN climate-related news is that 68 countries have committed to raising targets in their climate change plans by 2020. In addition, 30 countries have joined a union that promises to stop building coal plants from 2020.
