Sep 20 2009
The first-ever Global Climate Week was officially launched today in the German city of Hamburg, kicking off a week of synchronised activity around the world for urgent action to combat climate change.
Hamburg, New York, Copenhagen, Mexico City and Nairobi are among the cities taking part in Global Climate Week from September 21-25, alongside corporations, community groups and individuals around the world.
Global Climate Week coincides with the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Summit on Climate Change, at UN Headquarters in New York on 22 September.
The Secretary-General is leading the call for communities around the world to take advantage of the designated week to encourage leaders to seal a fair, balanced and effective agreement on climate change.
"I have called 2009 'the year of climate change'. No issue better demonstrates the need for global solidarity than climate change, the defining challenge of our generation. No issue is more essential to our future survival as a species. And no issue is more fundamental to long-term national security and sustainable prosperity," said the Secretary General.
Hamburg's Climate Week, running under the UN slogan "Seal the Deal!", aims to generate international awareness and to significantly contribute to helping world leaders during the UN-Climate conference in Copenhagen make decisions that will help steer economies and populations towards a healthy future.
Over 60 events will be taking place in Hamburg over the week. The opening ceremony is to take place at 1.00pm in the Hamburg Europa Passage that aims to showcase the effects of climate change in an interactive exhibition.
"We have to get the message across to the public, the private sector and to policy-makers that we are unlikely to get a second chance to begin delivering a low carbon, sustainable 21st century development path," said Professor em. Hartmut Graßl, Head of the Board of ALDEBARAN Marine Research & Broadcast, organizing the event in Hamburg.
"That is where Hamburg Climate Week and other events taking place under the Global Climate Week banner play a crucial role," he added.