The highly anticipated COP26 climate change summit has begun in the Scottish city of Glasgow. The G20 agreed on Sunday on a target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Delegates from about 200 countries are there to announce how they will reduce emissions by 2030 and help the planet.
With global warming caused by man-made fossil fuel emissions, scientists say urgent action is needed to avoid a climate catastrophe.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the summit would be “the world’s moment of truth.
Speaking ahead of the two-week conference, Johnson urged leaders to make the most of it: “The question on everyone’s mind is whether we seize this moment or let it slip away.
COP26 President Alok Sharma said the deal would be “more difficult than what we got in Paris” five years ago, when nearly all of the world’s nations agreed to a treaty to “pursue efforts” to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Because according to the latest UN assessment, which takes into account the new commitments of a majority of signatory countries, the world is still heading towards a “catastrophic” warming of +2.7°C. Or at best +2.2°C if we take into account the often “vague” promises of carbon neutrality for the middle of the century.
The onus is on leaders to act,” he told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show. “They need to come forward and we need to collectively agree on how we are going to achieve that goal.”
He added that “we expect more” from countries such as China, the world’s largest carbon emitter, and called the summit a “real opportunity” for them to show leadership.
The first day of the summit will be marked by the release of a state of the climate report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The interim report by WMO climate scientists will compare this year’s global temperatures with previous years.
Extreme weather events related to climate change – including heat waves, floods and wildfires – are intensifying.
The past decade has been the warmest on record, and governments agree that collective action is urgently needed.
G20 leaders agreed Sunday on a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, according to the draft final communiqué.
The agreement reached covers “stronger language” than the 2015 Paris agreement, two sources involved in the negotiations said.
