Williams and Al Gore announce global climate mega-event

Pharrell Williams and Al Gore have announced a second round of Live Earth concerts to promote action and awareness on climate change, which will take place across all seven continents on June 18.

American singer-songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer, Williams, and the former US vice-president, Gore, were speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.

The two were joined by producer Kevin Wall to unveil the global event that aims for a global television audience of 2 billion across 193 television networks.

Williams is the creative director of the event and did not reveal any details of who would be performing at the stadium shows, saying: “Instead of just having people perform, we literally are going to have humanity harmonise all at once.”

Williams, who played at Live Earth in Rio de Janeiro in 2007, described it as “a ball” but added “you would have pundits and comedians who didn’t understand global warming and we were often ridiculed. We wanted to do something very different this time.”

Pharrell launched Live Earth with Gore and his Alliance for Climate Protection charity, which has since merged to become the Climate Reality Project.

A clip shown before the announcement suggested that 100 artists will perform in the seven shows with each event lasting four to six hours.

Wall said: “The power of music is unique, because it’s borderless, without language. Pharrell will use that power. When you combine music with a message, you can effect change.”

The Davos meeting started on Tuesday and brings together 40 heads of state, around 2,500 business leaders and top celebrities alongside corporate and economic heavyweights.