World leaders have started arriving at a United Nations conference critical to averting the most disastrous effects of climate change, their challenge made even more daunting by the failure of major industrial nations to agree on ambitious new commitments, Al Jazeera reports.
The COP26 conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow opens on Monday, a day after the G20 economies failed to commit to a 2050 target to halt net-carbon emissions – a deadline widely cited as necessary to prevent the most extreme global warming.
Instead, their talks in Rome only recognised “the key relevance” of halting net emissions “by or around mid-century”, set no timetable for phasing out coal at home and watered down promises to cut emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he decided against attending the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow after Britain failed to meet Turkey’s demands on security arrangements, according to Turkish broadcaster NTV.
“When our demands were not met we decided not to go to Glasgow,” Erdogan was quoted as telling reporters on his plane returning from Rome.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has welcomed more than 120 world leaders to historic climate talks in Glasgow with the stark warning: “It’s one minute to midnight, and we need to act now.”
Johnson kicks off the Glasgow summit from 12:00 GMT, having admitted to a “road to Damascus” conversion to the threat of climate change.
“It’s one minute to midnight and we need to act now,” Johnson was due to tell them in his keynote speech, according to Downing Street. “If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow.”
US President Joe Biden arrived in Scotland on Monday for a UN climate summit, flying in from Rome where he had attended the G20.
Air Force One touched down in Edinburgh, with the US president due to address the COP26 summit in Glasgow at 1:00 pm (13:00 GMT).