Schwarzenegger to host third round of Governors' Global Climate Summit

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on Friday that he will host the third round of the Governors' Global Climate Summit later this year to rally efforts in confronting climate change.

Building on the accomplishments made at the first two summits in 2008 and 2009, the upcoming Governors' Global Climate Summit will bring together leaders from around the world to collaborate on efforts that will further the global fight against climate change, work towards collaborative actions to help reduce emissions and build green economies, the governor said.

This third annual summit will be held at the Mondavi Center at the University of California, Davis in Northern California on Nov. 15-16, Schwarzenegger said.

"Our past summits brought together leaders and experts from around the world to work on solutions to address climate change. With the successes from these collaborations, I have seen firsthand the power that states and other regional governments carry in influencing and creating the new ideas that spur clean innovation and the green economy," said Schwarzenegger in a statement.

"This year's summit will be an incredible opportunity to build on these previous successes and strengthen the important relationships with our national and international partners to continue developing climate change strategies that will reduce emissions and create jobs."

For years, Schwarzenegger has worked to bring world leaders together at all levels of government to partner on ways to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create a healthier environment and build green economies.

Schwarzenegger and United Nations officials welcomed more than 1,200 attendees from more than 70 states, provinces and countries to the Governors' Global Climate Summit 2 in Los Angeles last fall. As the largest gathering of regional leaders focused on climate solutions, the summit helped to develop cooperative partnerships and promote collaborative actions needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build green economies and fight global climate change.

The summit also provided subnational leaders the opportunity to influence the position of their national governments in advance of negotiations for the global climate change conference which took place in Copenhagen last December.

Following up on last year's summit, this year's effort will continue to expand the network of subnational collaboration to stimulate economic growth, reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, create green jobs, promote clean energy solutions and reduce greenhouse gas pollution while leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Convention 16 in Cancun later this year, Schwarzenegger said.

Source: Xinhua