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Poor nations ask world's richest to do more on climate

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Scientists warn of ocean acidification crisis

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Big companies urge nations to triple renewable energy

capacity

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50 U.S. banks announce plans to boost renewable

investments

(Updates with comments from developing nations, Moody's

research, Potsdam Institute report, bank initiative)

By Valerie Volcovici and Simon Jessop

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Developing nations on

Monday pleaded at the U.N. General Assembly for the world's

richest to do more to help them cope with the hardships they

face from climate extremes.

Leaders of small island states most at risk from rising sea

levels said it was time for those countries that burn most of

the fossil fuels blamed for rising temperatiures to stop paying

"lip service" to the issue.

"I wonder if our countries are moving further and further

away from the unity and the moral fortitude we require to

protect our people," said Samoan Natural Resources and

Environment Minister Cedric Schuster, who chairs the Alliance of

Small Island States (AOSIS).

The island nations of AOSIS have gained a powerful voice in

global climate talks. During a news conference on Monday,

Schuster called out the world's biggest economies in the Group

of 20, which together account for more than 80% of global

greenhouse gas emissions.

"We need all countries, but particularly the G20, to lead

the way" on emissions cuts and climate finance, Schuster told

reporters. "The vulnerable people of our world are drained by

the lip service."

Delivering a similar message on behalf of the Least

Developed Country negotiating bloc, Malawi's climate and natural

resources minister, Yusuf Mkungula, said: "Industrialized

countries must lead the way."

The pleas underscore the widening disparity between the

nations contributing most to global warming and those suffering

its worst effects, demonstrating how climate change has become

not just an environmental issue, but a matter of global justice.

Some country leaders spoke during a special U.N. "Summit for

the Future," while others addressed reporters and panels at one

of the 900 or so climate-themed events being held this week

across New York City.

Separately, scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate

Impact Research warned that humanity has now damaged at least

six of the planet's natural systems including the climate

equilibrium, with a seventh - the ocean's chemistry - now

threatened by acidification, which occurs as the ocean absorbs

carbon dioxide from the air.

"Climate events are coming at us faster and more frequent,"

said Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis told Reuters, adding

that he was pleading with wealthy nations to "stay focused" on

the problem.

So far, he said, "the signals being sent [by countries] do

not match the commitments that were made."

CONVERSATION ENERGY

Earlier on Monday, executives from major companies including

massive energy-user Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and power producers like

Vestas and Iberdrola urged world leaders to

follow through on an agreement made at last year's COP28 summit

to triple renewable-energy capacity by 2030.

Elsewhere, 50 U.S. banks announced plans to cooperate on

accelerating investment in clean energy, while a separate group

of 14 banks including Citi and Bank of America ( BAC )

called for a tripling of nuclear energy capacity globally.

But new research by Moody's Ratings agency warned that,

overall, global climate investments were trillions of dollars

short of what was needed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050

and to adapt to climate impacts. It said that while these

investments would lead to higher debts for national governments,

not investing would prove far more costly.

Another analysis looking at a more local level suggested

that more than 40% of the world's major companies, cities and

regions still had no plans or targets for cutting

climate-warming emissions.

According to the Net Zero Tracker, a research coalition

based at the University of Oxford, the "commitment gap" was the

result of the climate issue competing for government attention

with other challenges like war, elections and or economic

trouble.