Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed optimism on Tuesday that a climate change agreement could be reached with the help of the US administration under Barack Obama. He warned of the urgent need to address extreme weather events that will worsen with global warming, stressing the importance of taking action now to prevent further damage and human suffering. Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum meeting brought together UN agency heads, government officials, and experts to discuss practical strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change. He hoped that their discussions would pave the way for a new agreement in Copenhagen in December to succeed the Kyoto accord. Annan expressed optimism about the new president and administration in the United States taking climate change seriously, as the US is a major source of emissions. The upcoming meeting in Copenhagen aims to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which regulates greenhouse gas emissions. Economic stimulus efforts globally have led to investment in low-carbon energy and alternative technologies, potentially creating jobs and supporting sustainable projects. However, climate experts have cautioned that current pledges by industrialised nations to reduce emissions by 2020 are not sufficient to prevent dangerous climate change. Industrialized nations have pledged to reduce their overall emissions by an average of 10 to 14 percent below 1990 levels before December's meeting, as calculated by Reuters. However, the UN Climate Panel recommends that cuts should be in the range of 25-40 percent below 1990 levels to prevent the most severe consequences of climate change.