As world leaders gathered today amid warnings about the need to urgently address global warming, a smallpiper welcomed them with a Scottish welcome.
Brìghde Chaimbeul, who is from Sleat on the Isle of Skye, entertained politicians and Royal Family members at the Scottish Event Campus with her own arrangement of the traditional melodies An Léimras and Harris Dance.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles and Camilla all watched as Miss Chaimbeul played – before a video of space-themed images with a voiceover from physicist Brian Cox who said the world is ‘inconceivably valuable’.
Mr Johnson later warned world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that the longer they fail to tackle climate, the higher the cost when they are forced ‘by catastrophe’ to act.
Scottish smallpiper Brìghde Chaimbeul, who is from Sleat on the Isle of Skye, opened the COP26 summit in Glasgow today
Yrsa Dley-Ward, a Chorley-born writer, presents a poem to the Cop26 opening ceremony at Glasgow this afternoon
Mr. Cox stated: “It’s possible there’s only 1 civilisation in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is possible that there has only been one civilisation in the galaxy. It may be us, but that’s what makes it important. This idea can give you a hint about how we should behave in politics, towards each other and towards our planet.
“Imagine that intelligent life is only found on the earth. The only place in which atoms as old and complex as time have been combined into improbable patterns that allow them to think, feel, and give meaning to an otherwise meaningless universe.
“How should we behave?” Even though we are tiny, fragile, and orbit around one star amongst 400billion, this is a clear example of how to behave. We must see ourselves and the world as inconceivably valuable.
After the video, Chorley-born writer Yrsa Dley-Ward presented a poem. It opened with her saying, “Nothing will be saved except you.” It is important that you start with the facts. This is your invitation, to lead with light.
“You were created to create the land you were given. Yesterday’s beneficiaries; inheritors land, air, and time – this is all we have, holding the world in hand, with the most inconvenient truth of honouring the earth, land and sky.
Today’s crunch climate summit in Glasgow saw world leaders gather amid warnings they must act immediately
Today, the Prince of Wales addressed world leaders at Cop26’s global climate summit in Glasgow and stated: “The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how devastating a global cross border threat can be.”
“Our day is older than ever, but it is not over. The day is getting shorter, but it’s not over. Leading lights, get involved. We were created to create the future. The truth will never leave you, however heavy it may be.
Boris Johnson warns that climate change is a ‘doomsday device,’ in COP26 speech
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Boris Johnson, warned world leaders that if they don’t address climate change quickly, they will be forced to act ‘by disaster’.
Addressing world leaders such as the US President Joe Biden and India’s NarendraModi, the German chancellor Angela Merkel, Johnson stated that the world is in roughly the same place as James Bond when he tries deactivating a doomsday prediction in his films.
He stated, however, that this was not a movie and that the doomsday gadget is real.
“The clock is ticking to a furious rhythm of hundreds and billions of pistons, furnaces and engines with whom we are pumping carbon into air faster than ever… and quilting earth in an invisible blanket of CO2, raising temperature of the planet at a speed that is entirely man-made.
Boris Johnson, Britain’s Prime Minister, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony for COP26 in Glasgow this morning
He warned about the dangers of rising temperatures that could lead to food shortages for hundreds of millions, more wildfires, as well as the eventual loss of whole cities like Miami, Alexandria, or Shanghai.
He stated, “The longer we fail act, the worse it gets, and the higher the price we pay when we are forced to act by catastrophe,”
Greta Thunberg used a phrase to warn that the Paris Agreement promises to limit global temperature increases would be ‘nothing except blahblahblah’ and that the world’s anger will be uncontained unless Cop26 is the moment they get real about climate change.
He warned future generations that they would not forgive them if their actions were not taken – and it would be right.
Johnson echoed Sir Winston Churchill’s words and said that Cop26 wouldn’t be the end to climate change. But it could and must be the beginning of it.
After watching a performance by Skye Piper Brighde Chaimbeul by the delegates, Mr Johnson took to stage to give his speech. The video was narrated briefly by Brian Cox and a poem that Yrsa Danley-Ward wrote for Cop26.
At the Cop26 talks, around 120 heads of government and state are present at the summit of world leaders. Countries are being pressured to take more action to combat dangerous climate change in the coming decade.
In his opening speech Mr Johnson warned of the dangers posed by rising temperatures. He said, “Four degrees, and we say goodbye, to whole cities, Miami Alexandria Shanghai, all lost under the waves.
“The longer we wait to act, the more severe it becomes and the more costly it will be when we are forced to act by catastrophe.”
He said that world leaders are in a similar position to James Bond. Johnson welcomed them to the city and stated that the fictional spy was Scotland’s’most globally-famous fictional son’.
He said that Bond “generally comes to his highly lucrative films strapped into a doomsday devices, desperately trying out which wire to pull to turn them off, while a red clock ticks down remorselessly until a detonation will end human existence as we know it”.
He said, “We are in roughly same position, my fellow leaders global, as James Bond today, except that this isn’t a movie and that the doomsday device it is real.
“The clock is ticking to a furious rhythm of hundreds and billions of pistons, furnaces and engines with whom we are pumping carbon into air faster than ever… and quilting earth in an invisible blanket of CO2, raising temperature of the planet at a speed that is entirely man-made.
Johnson stated that there is a responsibility to locate the funds pledged at the previous climate summit Paris. He told Cop26, “We cannot and won’t succeed by government spending alone.
‘We could deploy hundreds and billions of dollars from this room, there is no doubt. But the market is filled with hundreds of trillions, and we must now work together to decarbonize.
He stated that such an action would help de-risk important projects in order to allow private sector money.
Johnson said: “In the same way that the UK was able to end its dependence on coal and become the Saudi Arabia for wind,”
Johnson warned world leaders to not ‘fluff their lines’ and warned that the younger generations would ‘not forgive’ them. He said, “The children who will judge me are not yet born children and their children.”
“We are now taking centre stage before a vast, uncountable audience. We must not fluff any lines or miss our cue.
“Because if they fail, they won’t forgive me” – They will remember that Glasgow was the historic turning moment when history failed to turn.
“They will judge us with bitterness, with a resentment which eclipses any climate activists of today, and they will be right.” Cop26 is not and cannot be the final word on climate change.
He also said that Cop26 must mark the beginning of the end of climate change.
The Prime Minster addressed the opening of the summit and stated that if summits alone could solve climate change, then we wouldn’t have needed 25 previous Cop summits. Cop26 won’t be the end of climate changes, but it can and must mark the beginning.
He said, “In the years after Paris, the world has slowly and with great pain built a lifeboat. Now is the time to give that lifeboat an enormous push into the water like a great liner rolling down slipways of Clyde.
“Take a sexton sighting at 1.5 degrees and embark on a journey towards a cleaner, greener future.”
Johnson concluded his speech saying that it must mark the moment humanity began to ‘defuse this bomb’ of climate change, and began fighting back.
Today, Antonio Guterres (UN Secretary-General) delivers a speech during today’s opening ceremony of the Cop26 summit
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, attends today’s opening ceremony at the Scottish Event Campus for the Cop26 summit.
He said, “Yes, it’s going be hard but we can do it.” Let’s use all our creativity, imagination, and goodwill to get on with it. We appreciate your kind words and wish you all much success.
“Who’s going telling him he is in the wrong place?” Twitter users make fun of Wolf Blitzer, a CNN News veteran who reports on COP26 from Edinburgh… even though the summit is 46 miles away.
Wolf Blitzer, CNN’s news anchor, was mocked for ‘going the wrong city’ today after he claimed he was reporting from Edinburgh at the COP26 Glasgow conference.
The veteran broadcaster, aged 73, tweeted a photo of himself in front of Edinburgh Castle 50 miles from where the event is taking places.
However, Twitter users informed the American journalist that he was in the wrong city. One said: “If you’re not in Edinburgh, you’re wrong place fella.”
Another replied, “Yeah that’s right down the road from Glasgow.” Why not stop by Loch Ness at lunchtime to go monster hunting?
A fourth option was added: “Morning folks!” We are here in Birmingham to provide you with complete coverage of the royal marriage in London.
Another tweet: “This reminds me about the time I visited NYC to see the White House.”
Today, Mr Blitzer tweeted that he was reporting from Edinburgh, Scotland. There, 20,000 leaders and delegates from around the world have gathered to report on the COP26 Climate Summit.
COP stands for Conference of the Parties. It is the 26th meeting of these parties to discuss and act on this crucial issue.
Mr. Blitzer, along with fellow reporters Kaitlan and Nic Collins, had been in Rome for G20 Summit. He then left for Scotland yesterday.
One possible reason he is in Edinburgh is that Joe Biden, the US president, flew into the city today in Air Force One. He arrived in Rome this morning.
MaIlOnline reached out to CNN this morning to comment on the choice of location.
At the summit, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated that the world’s reliance on fossil fuels is putting humanity at risk. He stated that the summit faces a stark choice: either it stops, or it stops.
“It’s time for us to say enough. We must stop destroying biodiversity. We must stop destroying ourselves with carbon. Enough with treating nature as a bathroom.
“Enough with burning, drilling, and mining our way deeper. We are digging ourselves into our own graves.
Mr Guterres also said failure to tackle climate change is a death sentence for small island states.
The UN Secretary-General stated that the world is approaching a “moment of truth” as it approaches “tipping points that will trigger escalating feedback cycles of global heating”.
He said that there was ‘progress to be built upon’ and added: ‘The climate action arm – led by young people- is unstoppable. They are larger. They are louder. They aren’t going away, I can assure you. I stand with them.
Guterres said that it was an illusion to believe that the fight against climate change has been won. He stated that recent climate action announcements could give the impression that things are on the right track to turning the corner.
This is a fabrication. According to the last published report on Nationally Determined Contributions, they would still condemn the world for a calamitous increase of 2.7 degrees.
“And even if the pledges made recently were clear and credible – and there are serious doubts about some of them, we are still heading towards climate catastrophe.
“Even in the most favorable scenario, temperatures will rise by well over two degrees.” We are still headed for climate catastrophe as we open the much-anticipated climate conference.
And Mr Guterres said ‘the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius’ must be kept alive.
He stated that countries should review their national climate plans every year if they fail to meet their commitments to limit global temperatures rises by the end of Cop26.
Guterres stated he was setting up a group of experts to propose clear standards to measure and analyze net zero commitments from non state actors.
Cop26 “must be a moment for solidarity”, he stated, calling for more support for developing countries.
Young climate activists from Samoa (and Brazil) addressed world leaders, including Joe Biden, the US president.
“Indigenous peoples are at the frontline of the climate emergency and must be at the center of the decisions being made here,” said Walelasoetxeige Paiter Bandeira Surui. We have ideas to postpone global collapse,” said Walelasoeige Paiter Bandeira surui from Brazil.
Brianna Fruean of Samoa said: “The real question here is whether you have political will to do right, to use the right language, and to follow up with long overdue, concrete action.”
The Prince of Wales addressed world leaders during the Cop26 global climate summit, which took place in Glasgow.
He stated that the Covid-19 pandemic had shown us how dangerous a global cross-border risk can be.
“Climate Change and biodiversity Loss are no different. In fact they pose an even greater existential risk, to the point that we must put ourselves on what might have been called a war-like basis.
Charles stated to the leaders that the “eyes and hopes” of the entire world are on them to act quickly because “time has quite literally elapsed”.
Charles stated to delegates that the scale and extent of the threat facing us requires a global, system-level solution. This involves radically changing our current fossil fuel-based economy into one that is truly renewable and sustainable.
“So ladies and gentlemen, my plea today is that countries come together to create an environment that allows every sector of industry to take action.”
Today, hundreds of media and delegates waited in line to get into the conference area at Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow.
Hundreds of people waited in line to get into the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow this morning.
“We know that this will cost trillions of dollars, not billions. We also know that many countries are burdened with growing levels of debt and cannot afford to go green’.
“Here, we need to mount a massive military-style campaign in order to marshal the strength and potential of the global private sector. It has trillions to its advantage – far beyond global GDP and, in the highest respect, beyond the governments of the leaders around the world – and it offers the only hope of fundamental economic transition.
He stated that a clear strategy is necessary to accelerate the introduction of innovative solutions to market. This is in addition to reducing risk to increase private investment. This framework is offered by his Sustainable Markets Initiative.
The Prince of Wales closed his speech by telling world leaders that many countries are already suffering the devastating effects of climate change through increasing droughts and mudslides, floods as well as hurricanes and cyclones.
“Any leader who has faced such life-threatening issues knows that inaction can lead to far more than prevention.
“So, I urge you, the world’s decision makers, to find practical solutions to differences so that we all can get down to work together to save this precious planet and the future of our children.