Qatar Living speaks to the environmentalist and social change advocate, Neeshad Shafi, to know more about how he became one of the World’s 100 most influential people in Climate Policy.
Neeshad is an environmentalist, speaker and social change advocate. He is originally from India and holds a master’s degree in Energy and Environmental Engineering.
Currently based in Doha, Qatar, Neeshad is the Executive Director at the Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar and the Curator at Global Shapers (Doha Hub).
“I started a collaboration with one of my Qatar colleagues, and we called it -Arab youth climate movement Qatar,” he said.
The climate change summit of 40 world leaders, spearheaded by the US President Joe Biden during April 22-23, 2021, amidst the concern for achievability of the climate ambitions is a significant step forward. A number of countries announced their new targets of higher reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while the others reiterated their commitments. The USA has made commitments to cut GHG emissions by at least 50-52 percent (from its 2005 levels) by 2030, Japan by 46 percent in 2030 (compared to the levels of 2013), and Canada by 36 percent from its 2005 levels. Ahead of the summit, the EU committed to cut GHG emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels) and the UK pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 75 percent by 2030. On the other hand, China repeated its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. South Korea plans to stop funding overseas coal development.
7 takeaways from the White House climate summit of world leaders By Cara Korte Biden s climate summit wraps up
More than 40 world leaders, 14 cabinet members, 8 CEOs and Pope Francis joined President Biden s two-day virtual Leaders Climate Summit on Thursday and Friday. Nations touted their climate ambitions, announced collaborations, and agreed on the urgency of the climate crisis.
Here are seven takeaways from the summit:
1. The U.S. wants to lead in the fight against climate change
Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry said Thursday that the summit reestablished the U.S. as a global leader in the climate fight. We had to restore America s credibility. We had to prove that we were serious, he said at a White House briefing. And, I think, today does that in many ways.
Thursday, 22 April 2021 At his Leaders Summit on Climate, President Biden announced a new target for the United States to achieve a 50-52% reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas pollution in 2030 – building on progress to-date and by positioning American workers and industry to tackle the climate crisis. US President Joe Biden (YouTube)
The announcement is part of the president’s focus on building back better in a way that will create millions of good-paying, union jobs, ensure economic competitiveness, advance environmental justice, and improve the health and security of communities across America. On his first day in office President Biden fulfilled his promise to rejoin the Paris Agreement and set a course for the United States to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad, reaching net zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050. As part of re-entering the Paris Agreement, he also launched a whole-of-government process, organized