More than a thousand had to shiver for over an hour in a bottleneck outside the venue to present proof of a negative COVID-19 test and gain access, while being treated by activists to an electronic musical remix of Thunberg's past speeches.ĭelayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, COP26 aims to keep alive a target of capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels - a level scientists say would avoid its most destructive consequences. Less senior delegates - many of them held up on Sunday by disruptions to the rail service between London and Glasgow - had more mundane problems. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he had decided to stay away after Britain failed to meet Ankara's demands on security arrangements and protocol, the Turkish broadcaster NTV reported. President Vladimir Putin of Russia, one of the world's top three oil producers along with the United States and Saudi Arabia, dropped plans to participate in any talks live by video link, the Kremlin said.
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Many of those leaders were due to take to the stage in Glasgow at the start of two weeks of negotiations that conference host Britain is billing as make-or-break.ĭiscord among some of the world's biggest emitters about how to cut back on coal, oil and gas, and help poorer countries to adapt to global warming, will not make the task easier.Īt the G20, US President Joe Biden singled out China and Russia, neither of which sent its leader to Glasgow, for not bringing proposals to the table.Ĭhinese President Xi Jinping, whose country is by far the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, ahead of the United States, was due to address the conference on Monday in a written statement, according to an official schedule. "Millions will suffer as our planet is devastated - a terrifying future that will be created, or avoided, by the decisions you make. "If we don't get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow."Īs Johnson was speaking, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg retweeted an appeal for her millions of supporters to sign an open letter accusing leaders of betrayal. It's one minute to midnight on that Doomsday clock and we need to act now," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the opening ceremony. "Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change.
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Their commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies "over the medium term" echoed wording used by the G20 at a summit in Pittsburgh as long ago as 2009. 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. The COP26 conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow opened 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.
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A UN conference critical to averting the most disastrous effects of climate change kicked off on Monday, its task made even more daunting by the failure of major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments.