More Than 120 Leaders to Speak in Glasgow to Commence The COP26 Climate Talks

Over 120 government leaders will speak Monday in Glasgow to kick-off COP26 climate talks, in which they will set the standard for 2 weeks of agreements that would then either finish with a strategy to quickly reduce carbon emissions across the world or make watery assertions to postpone what scientific research indicates is necessary, potentially, until it is too late.

Global leaders and scientists have described it as the world’s final best opportunity to confront the climate issue. On Monday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country is hosting the conference, will warn that mankind has run out of time to address climate change. According to statements supplied to media, he would say in his opening address, “It’s one minute to midnight, and we need to act now.” “We need to shift from talking, debating, and debating to concentrated, real-world action on coal, vehicles, money, and trees. Clear pledges and specific deadlines for change, rather than hopes, aims, and ambitions, as vital as they are.”

The G20 leaders’ conference, which concluded on Sunday in Rome, reveals that representatives are willing to listen to scientists, although they lacked the necessary unity needed to make the bold actions required to meet the moment. COP26 brings together over 25,000 individuals for one of the largest international meetings since the epidemic began, and it arrives after a year of catastrophic weather that cost countless lives in unanticipated areas, surprising even climate experts. The most recent UN climate science study, released in August, makes what must be done, quite plain: Limit global warming to as near to 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels as feasible to avoid the escalating effects of climate change.

However, their failure to impose a time limit on the use of coal – the single largest contributor to climate change – and to compel all countries to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 (rather than 2060, as China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia have pledged) demonstrates that the countries that use and produce fossil fuels continue to wield enormous power in global climate negotiations. Indeed, China’s long-awaited new emissions target, presented this week, was just slightly higher than its prior pledge. Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, stated on Sunday that the country will not be coerced into being net-zero by 2050. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made it clear that he has no intention of putting coal out of its misery.

India has not made a net-zero assurance, and, according to European Politician Bas Eickhout, it is one of just a few countries that oppose setting a timeframe on the phase-out of coal. According to Michael Mann, a top researcher at Pennsylvania State University, it is encouraging that leaders have recognized the need to do more to reduce emissions in the coming ten years, but what is critical is that all major polluters have proposals that are coherent with keeping a temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius. “And, also a shrinking of the ‘implementation gap,’ which is the difference between what heads of government have officially pledged to and what they ‘re implementing,” Mann added.