My personal takeaway from Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi Ascent, held May 4 and 5, was the first attempt by the UN Secretary-General to promote real and meaningful action by sector, not only to tackle climate change but to create political momentum for heads of state to come to an agreement on a path to avoid a catastrophic increase in earth’s temperature of 2 degrees Celsius. The world today has a better understanding of the urgency of the situation and the consequences of inaction.

Abu Dhabi reminded us that we also have the solutions at hand. Major action on SLCPs is one of those solutions, and if done right it can help avoid 0.5 C of temperature increase by 2050. We can do it, but we need strong leaders who can think globally and have long-term vision. The SG Climate Summit in September is the time to grab this opportunity, to tell the world that we have begun a new era, an era that can allow the atmosphere to heal, an era where living on this planet will be a pleasant adventure and not a scary one, where our children will be able to breathe, to play on sand beaches without being scared and to dream of their future. We hope our leaders will be up to the challenge in September. There is no more time left. We will be judged by our actions. The higher leaders are in the scale of power, the higher is their responsibility to act.