New UN climate chief: 'Action on warming unstoppable’

The UN’s new climate chief says she’s worried about President Donald Trump - but confident that action to curb climate change is unstoppable.

New UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa on
 the left with her immediate predecessor
Christiana Figueres

President Trump said he’d withdraw from the UN climate deal and stop funding the UN’s clean energy programme.

But former Mexican diplomat Patricia Espinosa told BBC News that the delay in any firm announcement suggests the issue is still unresolved.

She travels to US this weekend to try and meet the new US secretary of state.

Ms Espinosa said it would be more damaging for the US to leave the on-going climate talks process altogether than to stop funding the clean energy programme.

Read the BBC story - “New UN climate chief: 'Action on warming unstoppable’.”

Climate Summit's Urgent Goal: Cut More Emissions, Faster

Morocco's foreign minister Salaheddine Mozouar and
 French environment minister Segolene Royal are
 full of smiles as the latest round of UN climate
talks began on Monday in Marrakech.

If there was one unifying principle as this year's United Nations climate conference started in Marrakesh, Morocco on Monday, it was that the world needs to lift its ambition in fighting global warming.

Unless the world acts quickly, warned Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), "we will grieve over the avoidable human tragedy.

"The growing numbers of climate refugees hit by hunger, poverty, illness and conflict will be a constant reminder of our failure to deliver," he said last week as UNEP unveiled its annual "gap report" describing how far short the promises so far have fallen. "The science shows that we need to move much faster."

"The world is not nearly on track," agreed Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the UN climate negotiation body, in an essay co-authored with Morocco's foreign minister and COP22 president, Salaheddine Mezouar.

Read the Inside Climate News story - “Climate Summit's Urgent Goal: Cut More Emissions, Faster.”