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UN / PARIS AGREEMENT OPENER
STORY: UN / PARIS AGREEMENT OPENER
TRT: 04:12
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / PORTUGUESE / NATS
DATELINE: 22 APRIL 2016, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
2. Wide shot, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the podium
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“This covenant must amount to more than promises. I must find expression in actions we take today on behalf of this generation and all future generations; actions that reduce climate risk and protect communities, and action that place us on a safer, smarter path.”
4. Various shots, French President François Hollande at the podium
5. SOUNDBITE (French) François Hollande, President, France:
“I trust that, on behalf of the countries that you represent, you will encourage grass-root mobilization, that you will keep hope alive for our future, to allow future generations to look back on your actions today with pride and to allow those future generations to have the opportunity to live in a world where there is no alarm and there is no fear about the faith of humanity and how it can self-destruct.”
6. Wide shot, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the podium
7. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Dilma Rousseff, President, Brazil:
“The path ahead will be even more challenging. It is about the task of transforming our ambitious aspirations into concrete tangible results and to materialize the commitments that we have taken on. That task will require converging action of all of us, of all our countries and societies and economies that are less dependent on fossil fuels and that are dedicated to sustainable practices in our relation with the environment.”
8. Wide shot, China delegation
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister, Canada:
“What was once unthinkable has become unstoppable. Today, with my signature, today with my signature I give you our word that Canada’s efforts will not cease. Climate change will test our intelligence, our compassion and our will, but we are all equal to that challenge. I encourage other signatories to move swiftly to follow through on their commitments as we will and encourage those countries that are not in a position to sign today, to follow shortly.”
10. Wide shot, audience applause
11. Wide shot, US Secretary of State John Kerry at the podium
12. SOUNDBITE (English) John Kerry, Secretary of State, United States:
“Paris marked a moment when the world finally decided to heed the ever rising mountain of evidence that had been piling up for years. It marked the moment that we put to rest once and for all the debate over whether climate change is real and begun instead to galvanize our focus on how, as a global community, we are going to address the irrefutable reality that nature is changing at an increasingly rapid pace due to our own choices.”
13. Wide shot, UN Messenger of Peace Leonardo DiCaprio at the podium
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Leonardo DiCaprio, United Nations Messenger of Peace:
“Our planet cannot be saved unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground where they belong. An upheaval, a massive change, is required right now, one that leads to a new collective consciousness. A new collective evolution of the human race inspired and enabled by a sense of urgency from all of you. We all know that reversing the course of climate change will not be easy but the tools are in our hands if we apply them before it is too late.”
15. Wide shot, audience applause
16. Various shots, Ban meeting with DiCaprio.
As world leaders gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Earth Day to officially sign the Paris Agreement on climate change – the landmark accord that sets outs a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous global warming –Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Member States to move quickly to join the accord at the national level so that it can enter into force as early as possible.
The covenant, Ban told an audience of world leaders and diplomats, must amount to “more than promises,” adding that it must “find expression in actions taken today on behalf of the current generation and all future generations, actions that reduce climate risk and protect communities, and actions that place us on a safer, smarter path.”
The Paris Agreement was adopted by all 196 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris on 12 December 2015. In the Agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius.
French President François Hollande called on world leaders to “allow future generations to look back on your actions today with pride and to allow those future generations to have the opportunity to live in a world where there is no alarm and there is no fear about the faith of humanity and how it can self-destruct.”
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the task ahead “will require converging action of all of us, of all our countries and societies and economies that are less dependent on fossil fuels and that are dedicated to sustainable practices in our relation with the environment.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said climate change “will test our intelligence, our compassion and our will, but we are all equal to that challenge.”
He encouraged signatories “to move swiftly to follow through on their commitments” and in turn “encourage those countries that are not in a position to sign today, to follow shortly.”
United States Secretary of State John Kerry said Paris marked the moment when “we put to rest once and for all the debate over whether climate change is real and begun instead to galvanize our focus on how, as a global community, we are going to address the irrefutable reality that nature is changing at an increasingly rapid pace due to our own choices.”
United Nations Messenger of Peace, Leonardo DiCaprio, said “our planet cannot be saved unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground where they belong.”
He said “reversing the course of climate change will not be easy but the tools are in our hands if we apply them before it is too late.”
Thus far, the latest assessment indicates that at least 171 countries will sign the accord, setting a record for the most countries to sign an international agreement on one day.
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All of the world's largest economies, and the largest greenhouse gas emitters, have indicated that they will sign the Agreement. The signing is the first step towards ensuring that the agreement enters into force as soon as possible. After signing, countries must take the further national (or domestic) step of accepting or ratifying the agreement.
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