The Global Climate Action Summit was held September 12–14, 2018 at the Moscone Convention Center in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

.Cart, Julie. CALmatters
"Heavy hitters on climate change will converge on San Francisco this week, with Gov. Jerry Brown as host"
, accessed 2018-10-09. Sept. 7, 2018 , ENVIRONMENT. Hosted by California Governor and co-founder of the Under2 Coalition and

America's Pledge America's Pledge is a coalition of cities, states, universities, businesses, public sector leaders and citizens that want to ensure that United States fulfill its commitments in Paris Agreement and remains a global leader in the fight against climat ...

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

, the summit aimed to address

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

by bringing together non-state actors and elected leaders at the state and local level. The summit was also co-chaired by the

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

’s Special Envoy for Climate Action,

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

; the Chairman of the

Mahindra Group Mahindra Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. The group has operations in over 100 countries, with a presence in aerospace, agribusiness, aftermarket automotive components, construction equipment, defen ...

Anand Mahindra Anand Gopal Mahindra (born 1 May 1955) is an Indian billionaire businessman, and the chairman of Mahindra Group, a Mumbai-based business conglomerate. The group operates in aerospace, agribusiness, aftermarket, automotive, components, construc ...

; and the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change,

Patricia Espinosa Patricia Espinosa Cantellano (born October 21, 1958) is a Mexican diplomat who served as the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2016 to 2022. She was Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet ...

. The summit's programming fell into five main areas: healthy energy systems, inclusive economic growth, sustainable communities, land and ocean stewardship, and climate investment. Affiliate events also showcased climate initiatives and sustainable development in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

. Many climate leaders attended, including UN Secretary General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

, former US Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

, and prominent scientists and researchers. Speaking at the summit, Guterres said, "the Global Climate Action Summit has brought together actors demonstrating the vast opportunity afforded by climate action. They are betting on green because they understand this is the path to prosperity and peace on a healthy planet.” Also present were celebrities such as

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received List of awards and nominations received by A ...

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. Regarded as a cinematic cultural icon, he has starred in Harrison Ford filmography, many notable films over seven decades, and is one of List of highest-grossing actors, the highest-gr ...

, and

Dave Matthews David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...

. The summit had over 4,000 attendees, as well as tens of thousands more who attended the 300 side events held around San Francisco. At the summit, a group of twenty-nine organizations announced a commitment of $4 billion to

combat climate change Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include conserving energy and replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sour ...

over the next five years. The commitment was the largest philanthropic investment made addressing climate change to date. The summit encouraged governments to finalize the implementation guidelines of the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in December 2018 and guide them in preparing their national climate action plans in 2020 with short and long-term climate strategies. The summit also brought protests, with thousands blocking the entrance to the convention center to raise awareness about continued oil and gas drilling in California despite Gov. Brown's progressive climate stance.

References

External links

Official website
{{Jerry Brown Climate change conferences 2018 in the environment 2018 in San Francisco 2018 in science Jerry Brown September 2018 in the United States