Climate change summit - key points

Climate change is a global and escalating problem that is having consequences on people's lives. As a result, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invited world leaders in government, finance, business and civil society to attend a climate change summit in New York with the hope that these leaders will agree to take steps to mitigate climate change.

Now that the Summit has come to an end, here are some of the main points to come out of it:

• China, for the first time, has pledged to take action on climate change. The emissions from China are the highest in the World, so their pledge is a significant development in the fight against climate change;
• many leaders pledged new funds to help curb emissions, much of it to help developing countries that cannot afford to take such steps;
• over 150 countries agreed to end deforestation by 2030, although Brazil refused to sign that particular pledge, claiming they were not consulted before the pledge was drafted;
• the EU promised to continue to try and cut emissions beyond the 2020 horizon so that by 2030, greenhouse gas emissions from the EU would be 40% below the 1990 level.

This Summit mainly involved speeches from World leaders with the hope that it will spark a global agreement on tackling climate change. Any such agreement will, it is hoped, materialise in Paris next year.

Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "The clear scientific evidence is that our actions as humans are the main cause of global warming". He added, "That means if together we have the resolve, our actions can address this. But to do so we must agree a global deal in Paris next year. We simply cannot put this off any longer."

In his opening remarks to the meeting, Ban Ki-moon said, "Climate change is the defining issue of our age. It is defining our present. Our response will define our future", leaving few in doubt of the importance of action. Now, all eyes will be on Paris next year to see if a global agreement on action can be agreed.

Although some pledges have been made, there is one important and definite message to come from this Summit. Many leaders delivered speeches at the Summit on climate change, some of which had never done so before, giving a clear indication that climate change is clearly back on the agenda, and on a global scale.