UN climate summit aims to speed up transition to cleaner, greener future

New measures to speed up the transition to clean energy and green economies are among the initiatives to be unveiled during the UN Climate Change Summit next week.

Heads of State, representatives from the private sector, and the teenage activist Greta Thunberg are expected in New York to tackle what the UN considers the defining issue of our time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to address the summit.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed outlined some of the expectations during a press conference here on Tuesday.

"The Summit will present practical and new measures to, one: speed up the transition from coal to clean energy and to cut the pollution that is harming our health, she said, and further, protect nature but also unlock the potential of nature to deliver on climate solutions".

She said the summit would "create cleaner, greener ways to work and move; speed up transition in key sectors from grey to green economies, safeguard people from the impacts of climate change already being felt right now, and help make sure that we leave no one behind."