UNITED NATIONS: In yet another acknowledgement of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s efforts to counter the affects of climate change, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson highlighted Pakistan’s 10 billion trees project during his speech at the United Nations.
The UK PM called for following the example of Imran Khan to plant 10 billion trees and told world leaders that humanity has to “grow up” and tackle climate change.
“I invite everybody to follow the example of Imran Khan of Pakistan who has pledged to plant 10 billion trees,” he said.
The billion tree project has been acknowledged worldwide as a much-needed step towards minimising environmental losses.
In his speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Johnson said it’s now or never if the world is to meet its goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Prime Minister Johnson is due to host a major United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in six weeks’ time. He is using his trip to UN Headquarters in New York to press governments for tougher emissions-cutting targets and more money to help poor countries clean up their economies.
Amid the metaphors, the British leader made a series of calls for action to the UN member states, including:
- to restrain the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees;
- to pledge collectively to achieve carbon neutrality – net zero – by the middle of the century;
- all countries to step up and commit to very substantial carbon reductions by 2030, in particular with coal, cars, cash and trees;
- the developing world to end the use of coal power by 2040 and the developed world to do so by 2030;
- China to phase out the domestic use of coal;
- only zero-emission vehicles to be on sale across the world by 2040;
- every country to cut carbon by 68%;
- to halt and reverse the loss of trees and biodiversity by 2030;
- all nations to follow the example of Prime Minister Imran Khan to plant 10 billion trees, and,
- governments to work with financial institutions – the IMF and the World Bank – to leverage trillions of dollars in the private sector.
Johnson concluded his speech with a plea for world leaders to do right by the next generations.
