Honour your pledges

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged leaders of the world's major economies including the United States to deliver on their commitments toward a $100 billion per year climate fund with less than six weeks to go before a UN climate summit.

Johnson and UN Secretary-General António Guterres hosted a roundtable of world leaders on Monday evening to address major gaps on emissions targets and climate finance.

"Too many major economies – some represented here today, some absent - are lagging too far behind," Johnson said. "I'll stress that again - for this to be a success we need developed countries to find that $100 billion."

The closed-door meeting during the annual high-level week of the UN General Assembly includes leaders and representatives from a few dozen countries representing industrialized nations, emerging economies and vulnerable developing countries.

Those involved in the roundtable included the United States, China, India, EU nations as well as Costa Rica, the Maldives and a mix of developing and middle income countries and industrialized nations.

Johnson told reporters that he is hopeful the United States can deliver on a promise to step up its share of money toward the $100 billion annual goal but "we've been here before" and "we're not counting our chickens."

US Climate Envoy John Kerry, who represented the United States at Monday's meeting, said Washington would deliver more climate aid ahead of the October 31-November 12 COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Guterres told reporters after the roundtable that he heard "encouraging declarations" about raising financial support to help developing countries deal with climate change.

One UN official described the discussions as "brutally honest" about expectations for the summit and that there "was a collective sense of 'we're in trouble'."

The roundtable discussion aimed to ensure a successful outcome at the conference even as reports show major economies being far off track on their emission reduction goals and climate finance commitments.