Music superstars Lenny Kravitz, Billie Eilish and H.E.R. will team with advocacy nonprofit Global Citizen for a free concert in front of the Eiffel Tower designed to convince world leaders to take further action against climate change.
鈥淧ower Our Planet: Live in Paris鈥� is set for June 22 to coincide with the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, a gathering of the world鈥檚 political and business leaders to help developing nations finance sustainability projects.
Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans says the summit is an opportunity for governments and global banks to collaborate to jump start climate projects stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. He hopes 鈥淧ower Our Planet鈥� will encourage leaders to take advantage of that opportunity and provide the $16.7 billion in promised in 2009 to lower-income countries. He is also seeking to advance reforms at the World Bank to make up to $1 trillion in additional financing available.
鈥淕lobal leaders and democratically elected governments really only respond to the momentum of their people and summits like this can come and go,鈥� Evans told The Associated Press. 鈥淚f it doesn鈥檛 achieve its goal, we鈥檙e going to miss the window this year to make the climate negotiations the success, which is even more important after last year鈥檚 .鈥�
The Eiffel Tower event is part of the Global Citizen initiative, announced last month at the Global Citizen NOW conference in New York, supporting to rewrite the rules of global development banks and relieve the debts of lower-income countries to increase funding for climate adaptation projects.
Global Citizen has shown for years, especially with its , that it can generate action by having cultural leaders mobilize their supporters. And artists like Kravitz plan to motivate fans to 鈥渁ct today to save tomorrow.鈥�
鈥淭he next generation are inheriting a planet that鈥檚 being devastated by climate change,鈥� Kravitz said in a statement. 鈥淲e have the power to change things with our voices and our actions.鈥�
French President Emmanuel Macron supports the Global Citizen event, citing the need for 鈥渁 world with more solidarity.鈥�
鈥淐rises are multiplying and the number of those who place their hope in peace and multilateralism will only grow if we, as a global community, demonstrate that we are there to help the most vulnerable,鈥� Macron said in a statement. 鈥淏ecause there will be no climate transition worldwide if we don鈥檛 fight for more justice and equity.鈥�
Major philanthropic organizations 鈥� including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Rotary International, and Open Society Foundations 鈥� as well as the public-private partnership Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, will also support the effort.
鈥淧ower Our Planet: Live in Paris,鈥� which will also include performances from Finneas, Jon Batiste, and Ben Harper, will be livestreamed on Global Citizen鈥檚 social media platforms, while Amazon Music will host the livestream on its Twitch channel.
Glenn Gamboa, The Associated Press
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