COP26: Boris Johnson says “no excuses” for not addressing climate change

Boris Johnson warned world leaders that “there is no compelling excuse” for not addressing climate change.

Speaking at the close of the G20 summit in Rome, he said that some progress has been made in recent days, but there is still a “big way” to go.

World leaders met in Rome to discuss what can be done to keep global warming under control, ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Johnson added immediate action is needed to halve emissions by 2030.

In Rome, the leaders of the 19 countries and of the European Union, which form the G20 group of major economies, agreed to continue their efforts to limit global warming with “meaningful and effective actions”.

The prime minister said: “There is no compelling excuse for our procrastination.

“Not only have we recognized the problem, but we have already seen firsthand the devastation caused by climate change: heat waves and droughts, fires and hurricanes.”

Referring to a climate change treaty that came from a previous COP summit in 2015, he said: “If we don’t act now, the Paris Agreement will be seen in the future, not as the moment humanity opened its eyes. about the problem, but the moment we jumped and turned our backs. “

The Prime Minister is known for a style that is rarely a sentence or two from the joking.

Puns, jokes, bonhomie.

There was little of this at Boris Johnson’s press conference as the G20 summit closed in Rome.

There was a seriousness of purpose in his tone and language; even, a hint of sadness.

On the climate, the G20 had simply been “reasonable”, he said, progress had simply “advanced”.

He acknowledged that the communiqué, the agreement released at the end of the summit, was vague in its promises due to disagreement between the world’s largest economies.

He promises members will achieve net zero carbon emissions “by the middle of the century” – an acceptance that some have not committed to 2050, but instead to 2060 – or have not made any commitments.

And so on to Glasgow and what the prime minister says will be a “very, very difficult” couple of days.

A report from the World Meteorological Organization, published alongside the start of COP26, said extreme weather events, including powerful heat waves and devastating floods, are the new normal.

The two-week summit, which began on Sunday and runs through November 12, will see delegates from around 200 countries discuss how to cut emissions by 2030.

It was originally scheduled for 2020, but has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read more about the COP26 Summit here.

Johnson acknowledged that the G20 has “made progress” but said there is still “a great way to go”.

When asked what he thought were the chances of success at COP26, the prime minister said they were “about six out of 10, it’s nip and tuck, it’s touch and go”.

He added that the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 ° C was “very much in the balance.”

Scientists say keeping global warming below 1.5 ° C – a goal world leaders agreed to work towards in 2015 – will avoid the worst climate impacts.

“Currently, we have no doubts, we will not make it and we have to be honest with ourselves,” Johnson said. “So we have to keep that hope alive.”

The COP26 world climate summit in Glasgow in November is seen as crucial if climate change is to be kept under control. Nearly 200 countries are being asked for their plans to reduce emissions and this could lead to major changes in our daily lives.