(Bloomberg) — Climate Week is underway. That means some the globe’s most powerful corporate leaders are making pledges to be greener as heads of state gather in New York to discuss ways to stop the planet from warming.
The main event is at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Allianz SE Chief Executive Officer Oliver Baete and dozens of others are taking to the dais. On the other side of town, Climate Week’s opening ceremony features California Governor Gavin Newsom, Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and others. More than 150 other events will follow across New York over the next five days.
Read More: World Leaders Gather in New York as Global Climate Protests Grow
Children File Complaint Vs. Five Nations at UN (11:30 a.m.)
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and 15 other children and teenagers filed a legal complaint with the United Nations, accusing France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey of not doing enough to combat climate change.
The complaint will go to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, which does not have power to make legally binding decisions. The children, who range from 8 to 17, say the five nations have known about the risks of climate change for decades but aren’t curbing emissions and continue to promote fossil fuels.
Even Oil Majors Are Making Climate-Week Pledges (10:30 a.m.)
The pledges from companies to cut carbon continue to roll in. Amazon.com Inc. announced it will order 100,000 electric delivery vehicles as part of a plan to go carbon-neutral by 2040. AT&T Inc. announced deals with Invenergy LLC and Duke Energy Corp. to buy more wind and solar energy. And Schneider Electric SE, the global supplier of electrical equipment, is moving up its goal to become carbon neutral by 2025, five years ahead of schedule.
Even fossil fuel companies are getting in on the act. A coalition of 13 oil and gas companies including BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. announced an initiative to“unlock large-scale investment” in technology that would capture and trap global-warming causing gases in support of the Paris Agreement.
Heads of State Call for Action, Newsom Blasts Trump (9:30 a.m.)
At the opening ceremony of Climate Week in New York, heads of state and local government leaders are calling for immediate action. The loudest applause so far went to California Governor Gavin Newsom, who lashed out at U.S. President Donald Trump for rolling back environmental regulations and promoting use of fossil fuels that cause climate change.
“I don’t know what the hell happened to our country that we have the president that we have in this issue,” Newsom said. “I’m absolutely humiliated.”
Pension Fund Pledge to Make Portfolios Carbon-Free (9:00 a.m.)
A coalition of pension funds including Allianz SE and Swiss RE AG have pledged to make their investment portfolios climate neutral by 2050. Combined, the companies have more than $2.4 trillion in investments, the group said in a statement.
“Mitigating climate change is the challenge of our lifetime,” Oliver Bate, Allianz’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Politics, business and societies across the globe need to act as one to rapidly reduce climate emissions.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Nic Querolo in New York at [email protected];Christopher Martin in New York at [email protected];Will Wade in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at [email protected], Joe Ryan, Pratish Narayanan
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