Barack Obama to speak at Climate Change Conference in Porto

This Friday 6^th July marks an important date in the global environmental events calendar, with the Climate Change Leadership Summit in Porto, Portugal. Organised by Chilean ex-professional tennis player and wine entrepreneur Pancho Campo, the international conference seeks to find practical short-term and long-term solutions for the agricultural sector, in order to defend itself from the consequences of global warming…

Confirmed speakers include Professor Mohan Munasinghe, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who will explain the solutions proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), former UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bakova, and founder of The Climate Project Spain, Juan Verde, who will speak on the topics of world heritage and the green economy, respectively.

The keynote speaker for this event will be none other than Barack Obama – 44^th President of the United States of America – addressing the impacts and challenges of climate change.

The conference comes at a crucial time for global environmental policy change, above all in in Obama’s native USA. During his administration, President Obama made climate change and investments in the green economy one of his priorities.

However, his initiative to combat global warming –  the Clean Power Plan, which was designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions by the big pollutants in the US – seems likely to be railroaded by Donald Trump, whose decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on 1^st June 2017 dismayed political leaders, environmentalists, scientists and citizens across the globe.

Echoing the sentiment of many high-profile environmentalists and green politicians, Campo reiterated the need for urgent action in a recent interview: “Climate change is happening. People have to start acting immediately; they cannot wait any longer.”