By Yiming Woo
PARIS (Reuters) – Singers including Billie Eilish and Lenny Kravitz, politicians and activists took to the stage in Paris on Thursday at a concert calling for action on climate change and inequality as world leaders met at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact.
Organised by non-profit group Global Citizen, the “Power Our Planet: Live in Paris” event featured musical performances and speeches by climate activists and leaders from Brazil, Kenya, Barbados and the World Bank as well as famous faces including Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh.
“It is such an urgent moment that we’re in… We really need to change our entire system so that the people most impacted by the climate crisis get what they need to fight it,” Eilish said on a stage at Paris’ Champ de Mars park around the Eiffel Tower.
During his set, Kravitz told the crowd: “I want us all to be part of the solution, not the problem”.
The concert took place amid the gathering of some 40 leaders seeking to give impetus to a new global finance agenda.
The initiative aims to boost crisis financing for low-income states and ease their debt burdens, reform post-war financial systems and free up funds to tackle climate.
Earlier on Thursday, the World Bank said it would ease financing for countries hit by natural disasters and the International Monetary Fund said it hit a target to make $100 billion available for vulnerable nations.
There were also performances by musician Jon Batiste and singer H.E.R. among others as well as speeches by actors Diane Kruger and Connie Britton.
(Reporting by Yiming Woo; Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
