GLASGOW — The world’s leaders turned up heat Monday and used end-of-the–world rhetoric to try to give new urgency to the sputtering international Climate Negotiations.
At the beginning of the talks ,, metaphors were dramatic and mixed. Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister, said that global warming was a “doomsday device” tied to humanity. Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary General, stated to his colleagues that people “digging their own graves.” Mia Mottley of Barbados, speaking on behalf of vulnerable island nations, also warned leaders against “allowing greed and selfishness the path to our common destruction.”
In the midst of all the rhetoric, Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, stated that his country would aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2070. This is two decades after the United States but at least 10 years later than China. Modi stated that India would take five steps to reach “net zero” in order to fulfill its Paris climate agreement commitments.
A few more sombre, sometimes even detailed speeches were made. U.S. President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, avoided high-pitched rhetoric and instead delved into a shaky policy.
Biden stated, “There’s no time to wait,” in a more measured warning. He also apologized for the U.S.’s temporary withdrawal from the historic 2015 Paris Agreement, which he claimed left the country behind in its efforts. “Everyday we delay, our inaction costs more.”
French President Emmanuel Macron stated that European nations must now shift from making promises to take action, in addition to convincing big carbon-polluting countries to make more stringent emission reductions.
Johnson, who will host the summit in Glasgow in Scotland, compared an ever-warming Earth to James Bond’s fictional agent James Bond. He was strapped to a bomb to destroy the planet and trying defuse it.
He explained to leaders that the “ticking doomsday” device is no longer fiction. It is now climate change. This is triggered by burning coal, oil, and natural gas.
Johnson pointed out that Johnson was also pointing out that the 130 world leaders who gathered at the U.N. Climate Conference leaders’ summit were on average over 60 years old, while the generations most affected by climate change are yet to be born.
This conference will encourage governments to reduce carbon emissions quickly enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degree Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degree Fahrenheit). Based on current projections, it is expected to reach 2.7C (4.9F) in the next decade.
Scientists warn that increasing global warming will lead to melting of a lot of the Earth’s ice and raising sea levels. This would also increase extreme weather events and the risk of them occurring in the future. They say that for every tenth degree of warming, there are greater dangers.
Other goals of the meeting include for rich countries to provide $100 billion per year in climate aid to poor nations and for a deal to allocate half the money for adaptation to worsening impacts of climate change.
Mottley of Barbados warned that negotiators were falling short.
Mottley stated, “This is immoral. It is unjust.” “Are our eyes so blinded that we cannot hear the cries from humanity?”
“We are already gasping to survive,” declared President Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan, Seychelles’ other island nation. “Tomorrow is not an option, for it will be too soon.”
Guterres struck a similar gloomy note.
The U.N. secretary general stated that “We are digging ourselves into our own graves.” “Our planet is changing in front of our eyes – from the ocean depths and mountaintops, melting glaciers to unrelenting extreme weather events.”
The speeches will continue until Tuesday. After that, the leaders will depart.
They will then do the political give-and take, laying out broad guidelines for agreement and then having other government officials work out the details. Former U.N. climate secretary Christiana Figueres said that this was what made the historic 2015 Paris Climate agreement a success. The Associated Press reported Christiana Figueres, Climate Secretary.
Figueres stated that “for heads of state it is actually much better to use their strategic thinking,”
Figueres stated that the leaders-first process in Paris created the signature goals of Paris — the 1.5-degree Celsius limit, and net zero carbon emission by 2050. The leaders arrived at the last minute of the 2009 Copenhagen meeting, which was a failure.
On Monday, thousands gathered in Glasgow in cold wind to pass through a bottleneck at its entrance. There will be a few major absences that will be obvious.
Xi Jinping is the president of China’s top-carbon-polluting country. He won’t be visiting Glasgow. Figueres stated that his absence is not too significant because he won’t be leaving the country during the pandemic, and his climate envoy has been a veteran negotiator.
However, Biden has criticized Russia for not making more ambitious efforts to reduce emissions and blamed them for the disappointing statement they made on climate change at this weekend’s meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 major countries in Rome.
The U.N. summit will be even more difficult if several small countries from the Pacific islands are absent. This is due to COVID-19 logistics and restrictions. Figueres stated that this is a problem as their voices convey urgency.
Several leaders of major emerging economies, other than China, are also leaving Scotland. This includes those from Russia Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, and Mexico. India’s Narendra Modi is the only representative from the so-called BRICS countries, which account more than 40% global emissions.
Kevin Conrad, a negotiator representing Papua New Guinea and who chairs the Coalition for Rainforest Nations said he is watching the big polluting nations. “I believe it’s important that the United States and China show leadership as the largest emitters. He said that if both countries can demonstrate it is possible, they can give hope to the rest.
However, G-20 leaders made vague climate promises before the U.N. summit. They said they would seek carbon neutrality by or around midcentury, but did not set a target for eliminating coal domestically. This was a clear nod towards China and India.
More than three quarters of the world’s climate-damaging emission are from G-20 countries. Britain and Italy hosted the summit.
India, the third-largest emitter in the world, has not yet joined the U.S., EU and China in setting a goal to achieve “net zero” emissions. Negotiators hope Modi will announce this goal in Glasgow.
However, the Biden administration has made every effort to temper expectations .