Energy voices join climate chorus

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Leading European energy companies taking part in a parallel climate summit in New York pledged to do their part to address climate change.

More than 100 leaders from across the globe are attending a climate summit at the headquarters for the United Nations. Representatives from Spanish energy company Iberdrola said it's behind efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep global warming in check.

The company said it reduced its global carbon dioxide emissions by 8 percent year-on-year during the first quarter and will continue pursuing wind energy development as a means to lessen its environmental footprint.

"The specific goal it has set itself is for its emissions to be at least 20 percent lower than the average for the European sector in 2020," the company said in a Tuesday statement.

French renewable energy leader GDF Suez said it set a goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 10 percent by 2020, increasing its renewable energy capacity by 50 percent from 2009 to 2015 and increasing energy efficiency by 40 percent by 2018.

Carbon dioxide levels are 142 percent higher than a 1750 benchmark, a year World Meteorological Organization set as the start of the industrial era.

World financial leaders have joined the climate fight. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced Monday it was divesting from fossil fuels, with an immediate focus on coal on oil sands.