NEW YORK, Sept 16 — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of New York yesterday, calling for increased action against climate change ahead of the opening of the UN General Assembly.
“We are here to demand that the administration declare a climate emergency,” said Analilia Mejia, director of the activist group Center for Popular Democracy.A UN climate report released this month named 2025 as the deadline for global greenhouse gas emissions to peak — followed by a sharp drop thereafter — if humanity is to cap global warming in line with Paris Agreement targets.
Mejia, 46, pointed to recent extreme weather events — from fires in Canada, Hawaii and Greece to flooding in Libya — as demonstrating the seriousness of the “existential crisis” posed by climate change. California filed a lawsuit Friday against five global oil majors, alleging the firms caused billions of dollars in damages and misled the public by minimising the risks from fossil fuels.