As he warned of a coming ‘climate disaster’, the UN secretary-general accused some countries of treating nature as a “toilette”.
Antonio Guterres said it was an ‘illusion’ to think there has been enough progress in reducing carbon emission. Furthermore, mining for coal, oil, and gas is similar to ‘digging your own graves’.
In a speech that opened the COP26 session for world leader, the startling comparison was made.
Guterres stated that the world’s addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity towards the brink.
He told the opening plenary of the conference in Glasgow: ‘We face a stark choice: either we stop it — or it stops us.
Antonio Gutteres claimed it was an illusion to believe there has been enough progress in reducing carbon emissions. Mining for fossil fuels is like digging our own graves.
Boris Johnson and Guterres welcomed each other to the summit. Mr Guterres was greeted individually by Narendra Modi of India.
Sir David Attenborough, Mr Johnson, and Mr Johnson listened to speeches from the first day at the leaders’ summit
“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 burning, drilling, and mining to get deeper. We are digging our own graves.
In his speech, Boris Johnson told world leaders they can no longer afford to delay taking major action to address climate change – saying ‘the longer we fail to act, the worse it gets’.
The Prime Minister likened the global situation to the final scene of a James Bond film, where the hero must stop plans for destroying the planet.
Johnson, however, stated that “this is not a film” and that the “doomsday device” was real. He urged his counterparts for more action to reduce harmful emissions.
The premier stated that the longer countries waited to take action, the higher the cost when it comes to a catastrophe requiring us to act.
He stated that the world has “long since stopped the clock on climate change” and that there is only “one minute to midnight”, with immediate action to prevent a global catastrophe.
The PM used his speech at the opening of the summit as a rallying cry to try to build momentum as he welcomed foreign leaders to Glasgow after securing only lukewarm climate commitments at the G20 summit in Rome over the weekend.
However, UN hopes are facing new setbacks after it was revealed that China’s president Xi Jinping will not give a ‘virtual speech’ but instead will submit a written statement.
Recep Tayyip Erdan, Turkish president, announced that he will not attend the G20 despite having attended it. Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, both in charge of big polluters, have declined to attend.
The conference’s organisation is under fire. Thousands of delegates had to wait hours for their turn due to shambolic security procedures.
The premier said the longer countries wait to take action then ‘the higher the price when we are eventually forced by catastrophe to act’. Joe Biden was pictured today welcoming Mr Johnson to the summit
Emmanuel Macron, French President, gestures to Prime Minister during their conversation Monday morning as the Climate Change Summit kicks off
The Prince of Wales, and the Duchess Cornwall arrive at the Cop26 summit on the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow
Mr Johnson greets Azali Assoumani (Comoros President), and Philip Joseph Pierre (Prime Minister of St Lucia), right
In his lunchtime speech, Johnson promised to invest another billion pounds in green finance – provided the UK economy performs well in the future.
The PM reiterated his desire for global leaders to announce steps on ‘coal and cars, cash, and trees’, which he believes will make the biggest difference in limiting temperature increases to 1.5 degrees.
As the G20 ended last night, Johnson set the tone. He read the riot act to his fellow leaders and said that their promises about tackling climate change were starting to’sound hollow.
The PM stated that there are “no compelling excuses” for procrastinating about reducing harmful emissions. Actions already taken amount to ‘drops into a rapidly heating ocean”.