As U.N. climate change talks kick off amid wild weather and transport challenges, delegates are reminded of “the trust invested in you by billions”
* Under heavy rain, COP26 summit starts in Glasgow
* Wild weather complicates arrival for some delegates
* ‘Weak’ G20 decision may threaten 1.5-degree goal
By Laurie Goering
GLASGOW, Oct 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – With the UK hosts warning that “lights are flashing red on the climate change dashboard”, the COP26 U.N. climate summit kicked off on Sunday in Glasgow, marked by pointed warnings of growing threats as emissions-cutting pledges still fail to add up.
“I do not underestimate the challenge” of reaching an effective deal to adequately slash emissions, Alok Sharma, Britain’s COP26 president, told delegates at the talks’ opening.
But, he added, “I believe that we can resolve the outstanding issues.”
Heavy rain poured down in Glasgow on the first day of COP26, and a fallen tree blocked train lines from London, forcing some red-faced delegates into last-minute flights or rental cars.
Others struggled to master the phone apps governing a daily coronavirus testing regime for attendees, some of whom showed up to the venue of one of the first major international gatherings since the start of the pandemic with negative tests in hand.
“This is not a normal COP,” Sharma admitted.
But the biggest hurdle facing COP26 may be the outcome of the G20 meeting of major economies in Rome this weekend, where leaders backed a 1.5-degree Celsius limit on global temperature rise but offered few new concrete commitments to achieve it.
As world leaders arrive at the talks in Glasgow on Monday, more ambitious emissions-cutting pledges will be crucial for the COP26 hosts to meet their overarching goal to “keep 1.5 alive”.
“If the G20 was a dress rehearsal for COP26, then world leaders fluffed their lines,” Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said in a statement, describing the G20 outcome as “weak”. Continue reading