UN calls for action against climate change

The head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, has called for immediate action in tackling climate change. Yvo De Boer has welcomed a decision by US President Barack Obama to attend the summit.

Speaking in Bonn on Wednesday, Yvo De Boer said the world is looking to the United States to take a leading role in establishing targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. He also said the world is looking to the US to offer financial assistance to developing nations, who are trying to tackle global warming.

US President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his goals to cut heat-trapping pollution by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. The UN's climate chief also warned participating countries that "the stakes are too high for any country to be focused solely on national agendas." He added there was "no time to lose" and called for rich countries to take immediate action.

Yvo de Boer, UN Climate Chief, said, "Rich countries must put at least ten billion dollars a year on the table to kick-start immediate action up to 2012. And they must list what each country will provide and how funds will be raised to deliver very large, stable and predictable finance going into the future without constantly having to renegotiate those sums every few years."