Lorde, BTS, the Weeknd and more hope to raise billions to fight famine and climate crisis
[July 16, 2021: Jazz Monroe]
This year’s edition of Global Citizen Live will air online and on television on September 25, with performances from Lorde, Billie Eilish, BTS, the Weeknd, Coldplay, and more, as Billboard reports. Taking place across six continents, the 24-hour concert is also set to feature Christine and the Queens, Lizzo, Metallica, Burna Boy, Doja Cat, Ed Sheeran, Usher, Femi Kuti, Green Day, Davido, Camila Cabello, DJ Snake, H.E.R., Shawn Mendes, and Alessia Cara, among others. The international performances will include an as-yet-unspecified billing in New York’s Central Park.
The event will call upon businesses and philanthropists to donate resources to fight famine and restore at least one billion felled trees by 2022, among other initiatives tackling poverty and the climate crisis. It will air on ABC, ABC News Live, the BBC, FX, iHeartRadio, Hulu, YouTube, and Twitter, alongside other international outlets, according to Billboard.
Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Citizen, is hoping the event, timed to the United Nations General Assembly, will encourage governments, corporations and philanthropists to fund a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses by September, especially in Africa. The international advocacy group also hopes to raise $6 billion for famine relief efforts, as well as enough money to plant a billion trees to help counter climate change.
In a press statement, he further said:
"COVID-19 has drastically reversed the progress toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals pushing upwards of 160 million people back into extreme poverty. There are now more than 40 million people on the brink of famine. Progress on climate change has halted, as the majority of the Fortune 500 fail to set science-based carbon reduction targets.
We must rectify the damage done and hold world leaders and businesses accountable for ensuring that the entire world recovers from this pandemic together. “Equitable recovery” is not an act of charity—it is the only way we can ensure a fighting chance at achieving a sustainable world free from extreme poverty."
For more good news stories check out our Good News section at The Brighter Side of News.
Like these kind of feel good stories? Get the Brighter Side of News' newsletter.
Tags: #Celebrity_Good_News, #Charity, #Concert, #Climate_Change, #Famine, #The_Brighter_Side_of_News
