- Muslim women break taboos navigating east London's waterways
- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
- S.African woman turns 118, among the oldest in the world
- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
- Cuts, cash, credit: China bids to jumpstart flagging economy
- France's debt weighs heavier ahead of budget debate
- Iran treads carefully, backing Hezbollah while avoiding war
- Return to sender: waste stranded at sea stirs toxic dispute
- 'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future
- On remote Greek island, migratory birds offer climate clues
- Taken from mother by nuns, victim seeks answers as pope visits Belgium
- China cuts amount banks hold in reserve to boost lending
- Hong Kong, Shanghai extend surge as China optimism boosts markets
- Vietnam president reiterates support for Cuba during official visit
- Drought reduces Amazon River in Colombia by as much as 90%: report
- Stay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate's grim choice
- Florida bracing for 'unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene
- Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala Harris
- Champagne houses abuzz over English sparkling wine
- Macron, Trudeau pledge to work for 'decarbonized' economies
- Hurricanes, storms, typhoons... Is September wetter than usual?
- China stimulus, tech optimism boost stock markets
- 'Unsurvivable' Hurricane Helene races towards Florida
- Macron meets Trudeau in Canada as both face political setbacks
- South Korea surges in UN innovation index
- Chloe's see-through look may not be for Kamala
- Floods threaten Niger's historic 'gateway to the desert'
Paris climate summit opens with call for 'finance shock'
French President Emmanuel Macron told global leaders Thursday that no country should have to choose between tackling poverty and dealing with climate change at a summit tasked with reimagining the world's financial system.
The Summit for a New Global Financial Pact is aimed at finding the financial solutions to the interlinked global goals of tackling poverty, curbing planet-heating emissions and protecting nature.
In his opening remarks Macron told delegates that the world needs "public finance shock" to fight these challenges, adding the current system was not well suited to address the world's challenges.
"Policymakers and countries shouldn't ever have to choose between reducing poverty and protecting the planet," Macron said.
Ugandan climate campaigner Vanessa Nakate took the podium after Macron and asked the audience, which included oil-rich Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to take a minute of silence for people who are suffering from disasters.
She slammed the fossil fuel industry, saying they promise development for poor communities but the energy goes elsewhere and the profits "lie in the pockets of those who are already extremely rich".
"It seems there is plenty of money, so please do not tell us that we have to accept toxic air and barren fields and poisoned water so that we can have development," she said.
Economies have been battered by successive crises in recent years, including Covid-19, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, spiking inflation, debt, and the spiralling cost of weather disasters intensified by global warming.
Leaders attending the summit include Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has become a powerful advocate for reimagining the role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in an era of climate crisis.
Kenyan President William Ruto will "underscore the urgent need to move beyond incremental measures that fall short of effectively combating the climate crisis and fail to generate investment benefits for Africa", his office said.
Other participants include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, IMF director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank chief Ajay Banga.
- Climate goals -
France says the two-day summit will be a platform for ideas before a cluster of major economic and climate meetings this year.
But observers are looking for tangible progress -- including keeping promises already made.
"We'd need to see some down payments from the richer countries and their development finance institutions," said Alex Scott of the think tank E3G.
One likely announcement is that a 2009 pledge to deliver $100 billion a year in climate finance to poorer nations by 2020 will belatedly be fulfilled.
A second pledge to rechannel $100 billion in unused "special drawing rights" (SDRs) -- the IMF's tool to boost liquidity -- will also be in the spotlight.
Yellen said the United States would use the summit to push for creditors to grant relief and restructure debts of developing countries.
"The international community must come together to support countries that are currently in crisis," she told a news conference.
China, a major global creditor, has come under scrutiny for its lack of participation in multilateral efforts to ease the debt burden on developing countries.
The summit comes amid growing recognition of the scale of the financial challenges ahead.
Last year, a UN expert group said developing and emerging economies excluding China would need to spend around $2.4 trillion a year on climate and development by 2030.
- 'Great leap' -
Countries are calling for multilateral development banks to help unlock climate investments and significantly increase lending, while stressing that new debt arrangements should include, as Barbados has, disaster clauses allowing a country to pause repayments for two years after an extreme weather event.
Other ideas on the table include taxation on fossil fuel profits and financial transactions to raise climate funds.
The French presidency is backing the idea of an international tax on carbon emissions from shipping, with hopes of a breakthrough at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization in July.
Observers are also keenly awaiting details of a plan from South American countries to create a global structure for so-called debt-for-nature swaps.
Petro said it "could be humanity's first great leap forward to address its biggest problem".
Later on Thursday, Billie Eilish will perform at Global Citizen's "Power Our Planet" concert, lending star appeal to a macroeconomic niche unused to such a limelight.
Ch.Lefebvre--CPN