Banki Moon Calls for 'New Course' on Climate Change

The U.N. Climate Summit has opened, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for the world's nations to adopt a "new course" to protect the global environment from dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.
"Climate change threatens hard-won peace, prosperity, opportunity for billions of people. Now today, we must set the world on a new course," he said.
Ban called Tuesday for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, saying the world should be carbon neutral by the end of the 21st century.
Leaders from 125 nations are at the one-day summit as environmental activists look to build momentum for adoption of a global pact to curb emissions at a Paris conference in late 2015.
But there are two prominent no-shows at the U.N. climate conclave, with the leaders of China, the world's biggest polluter, and India, another large carbon emitter, skipping the event and instead sending other officials.
Several national leaders are set to speak at the summit, including U.S. President Barack Obama, representing the world's second biggest polluter, and Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga of the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, which is facing being wiped out by rising sea water.
The Earth is faced with rising temperatures - the U.N. says the highest ever for the June-to-August period this year - as greenhouse gases are trapped in the atmosphere.  But international agreement on how to attack climate change has been difficult to achieve, with negotiations collapsing at a Copenhagen conference in 2009.
Obama is expected to sign an executive order requiring U.S. agencies to take climate change into consideration when investing in development programs overseas.
The White House said in a statement the programs and investments will be designed to help communities deal with the effects of climate change.  The measures will be officially announced during the U.N. summit.
On Monday, the World Bank announced that 73 national and 22 regional governments, together with about 1,000 companies, will join forces to push for policies that encourage a shift to cleaner energy technologies.
That coalition includes countries like China, South Africa, Russia and the Marshall Islands, and companies like British Airways, Unilever and Swiss cement manufacturer Holcim.  One notable absentee from the list is the world's largest economic power and the World Bank's largest single financial supporter, the United States.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.