UN chief urges world to keep COP21 spirit to combat climate change

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the international community to sustain the spirit and momentum of the UN Climate Conference (COP21) in Paris last year to combat global warming.

The UN secretary general made the appeal at the opening of the 9th annual World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Paris COP21 agreement in 2015 was a triumph as almost 200 nations agreed on an ambitious goal of limiting the global warming by two degrees Celsius or even by 1.5 degrees, Ban said.

He demanded that in the future any dollar spent on new infrastructure project should be coupled with investments in renewable energy projects.

"Combating climate change has never been more realistic than today and we are the last generation who is capable of bringing change," he said.

In order to achieve the objective set in Paris in December last year, governments must cut subsidies on the use of fuel and electricity, he added.

He said the global expansion of clean energy can save 4.3 million lives every year.

"This is the estimated number of victims who die every year due to air or water pollution, wrong use of open fire, coal or because of wrong or non-existent waste management," he said, adding that women and children constitute the majority of those victims. Endit