THE First Minister is due to attend New York City’s Climate Week alongside Holywood royalty and activist Jane Fonda.
Humza Yousaf will address the opening ceremony of the week-long event in America’s biggest city alongside Fonda, a two-time Oscar winner.
Climate Week NYC’s organisers said the event, arranged in partnership with the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) and the city authorities, was a chance for politicians and business leaders to work out solutions on “how to accelerate climate action, fast”.
Top Scottish climate scientist Jim Skea, now the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will also speak at the event.
Yousaf said: “As we see the impacts of climate change grow in severity around the world and in the lead-up to the critical COP28 discussions, it is crucial that we come together to push for bold action to limit warming to 1.5 degrees and to advocate for those that have done the least to contribute to the climate crisis and are most vulnerable.
“I look forward to the opportunity to engage on important issues such as loss and damage and a just transition to low carbon energy, as well as engaging with Under2 counterparts from around the world.”
Fonda (above), who was effectively blacklisted in Holywood for her opposition to the Vietnam War before reinvigorating her career with a best-selling series of home exercise video tapes, said all new fossil fuel developments must be halted.
She said: “We are in a planetary crisis. If we want to ensure our survival on a livable planet, we must prevent any new fossil fuel development and phase out of fossil fuels altogether over the next several decades.
“President Biden should declare a climate emergency and stop approving new fossil fuels.”
IPPC chair Skea added: “Climate change is a threat to the health of our planet and a critical challenge for humanity in this century. It is happening now. We can see and feel its effects around the world daily
“We, as human beings, have the capacity to act to avoid the worst by cutting our emissions, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerabilities. We have the know-how and the means to make deep and rapid cuts in emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change.
“I’m delighted to be speaking at this year’s Climate Week NYC, where business and government join their efforts to tackle climate change. This is the decade for more comprehensive and determined climate action”.
