UN envoy sees positive reaction to Climate Summit

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' special envoy for the upcoming Climate Summit said on Tuesday that the reaction from countries coming to the meeting is positive.

"We are quite optimistic because the reaction that we have had since the secretary-general called for this summit is quite positive," said the envoy, Luis Alfonso de Alba.

"We have 18 countries which are co-leading the coalitions and more than 40 countries which are actively participating in those coalitions identifying concrete actions which could be presented at the summit," the envoy said. "They have all agreed with the shift from negotiation to implementation."

The participating countries are all very much encouraged by the fact that the United Nations would be focusing much more on supporting implementation on the ground, said de Alba. "I think the trend is quite positive."

He explained that governments went to Paris and agreed to increase efforts to combat climate change by keeping the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and if possible limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.

There were 195 countries and the European Union attending and the accord was adopted unanimously in December 2015.