United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said he was confident that US president-elect Donald Trump would distance himself from his election campaign attack on the Paris climate change agreement, signed by 109 countries, and would address global climate change issues during his tenure.
He said the Paris agreement, which became an international law on November 4, is unstoppable now.
"As you may know, I spoke to Mr Trump, discussed many issues on peace, security and climate change. I remain very optimistic that Trump will understand the importance of maintaining the historic agreement," Ban told reporters here.
He said the Paris agreement has come into force in a record time that was unprecedented in history.
"So it (the Paris agreement) has established a larger impact... now it has become unstoppable," said an optimistic secretary general, who is going to demit office in just one and a half months after a 10-year-long tenure.
"I am optimistic about the continuation of Paris agreement," Ban told IANS.
He said that the global business communities and the civil society members were fully on board and committed to the Paris agreement.
Ban, who was attending his last UN climate conference as secretary general, was attending the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) conference.
He said now the Paris agreement has come into force, it was time to translate words into effective policies and actions, and that he would discuss the impact of climate change with Trump in detail.
"I am sure that he will understand the whole importance, seriousness and the urgency."
Batting for the continuation of the Paris agreement by the next UN secretary general too, he said more than 3,000 scientists talked about the impact of climate change in the future.
"We don't have planet B. We have to live in this planet and there should be an urgency in addressing climate change," he added.
