Former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and billionaire businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates will head an international commission on climate change to launch next month, the Dutch government said Monday. ADVERTISEMENT“We hope that the need to adapt to climate change may be felt on a global scale,” said the minister, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, who added a plan of action would be unveiled on protecting the zones most vulnerable to climate change in September of next year. Ban, Microsoft founder Gates and Georgieva will be in the Netherlands on October 16 for a conference officially launching the commission. The launch comes with a coalition of 17 US states having vowed to challenge President Donald Trump after his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Accord on climate change and bind themselves by climate change regulations introduced under predecessor Barack Obama. Thousands of delegates are meanwhile converging on San Francisco for this week’s three-day Global Climate Action Summit designed to take support for the Paris Accord to a new level.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 10, 2018 12:05 UTC