London: The host of the Glasgow climate summit says there is new reason to believe the talks may not fail but has cautioned against embracing a “mood of exaggerated enthusiasm” given the most intense negotiations are yet to come.
The upbeat comments by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson echo the growing confidence of some other attendees who privately believe the conference won’t achieve all its goals but will still make substantial progress.
Boris Johnson at his farewell address to other world leaders. Credit:AP
Most of the 120 world leaders who gathered in Glasgow for the summit’s opening two days will now depart, leaving their negotiators and senior cabinet ministers to thrash out the terms of potential new deals to respond to the climate crisis over the next 10 days.
“The eyes of the populations of the world are on you,” Johnson said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison boarded his RAAF plane bound for Australia on Tuesday evening local-time (Wednesday AEDT) after spending 48 hours meeting other world leaders and announcing his new formal target to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Prince Charles during his brief meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the summit. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
He sat down with Prince Charles earlier and informed the heir-to-the-throne and longstanding environmental campaigner that the federal government had “now committed to net zero by 2050, doubled our climate finance commitments and was working very close with our Pacific family”.
Charles simply replied “absolutely” before asking waiting press to take a picture of the pair. He later said it was “great” to meet Morrison.
Speaking to reporters as world leaders began to depart Glasgow, Johnson adopted a tone of cautious optimism about what would happen over the coming days.
“It’s all too easy to come to a summit like this and get caught up in a mood of exaggerated enthusiasm,” he said.
“And as this first stage of COP26 draws to a close…. we must take care to guard against false hope and not to think in any way that the job is done because it is not. There is still a very long way to go.
“But all that being said, I am cautiously optimistic.”
Boris Johnson said the decarbonisation pledge from India’s Narenda Modi, seen here with Johnson and Morrison, is one of the most significant wins of the first two days of COP26. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Going into the 12-day meeting, Johnson gave the talks a 60 per cent chance of keeping alive the goal of limiting climate change to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Johnson said that a week ago that he believed that if COP26 were a football game, the score would be 5-1 down in a match between humanity and climate change.
“And I think what you could say today, after two days of talks with around 120 world leaders, is that we’ve pulled back a goal or perhaps even two,” he said.
“And I think were going to be able to take this thing to extra time because there’s no doubt some progress has been made.”
Asked about India’s surprise commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2070, Johnson replied: “I think the most important thing that they’ve said is that they want to decarbonise so much of their power system by 2030. That’s a massive commitment.”
The UK is particularly happy about a new deal to end deforestation and a pact to reduce methane emissions by 2030. Several other countries have also pledged tougher action on curbing greenhouse gas pollution.
As world leaders depart, work continues to negotiate the mechanisms to tackle global warming. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The Global Methane Pledge, launched on Tuesday after being announced in September with just a few signatories, now covers countries representing nearly half of global methane emissions and 70 per cent of global GDP, US President Joe Biden said.
Methane is more short-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide but 80 times more potent in warming the planet. Cutting emissions of the gas, estimated to have accounted for 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times, is one of the most effective ways of slowing climate change.
Among the signatories is Brazil – one of the five biggest emitters of methane, generated in cows’ digestive systems, in landfill waste and in oil and gas production. Three others – China, Russia and India – have not signed up, while Australia has said it will not back the pledge.
With Reuters
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