'We need to act now': UK PM Johnson to warn world leaders at COP26 against climate change

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will warn the world leaders to take dramatic action against climate change during COP26 on 1 November by saying “It’s one minute to midnight and we need to act now.” As per PTI, at the opening ceremony of urgent UN climate talks which will also be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UK PM will say that humanity has “long since run down the clock on climate change", warning that “if we don't get serious today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow.” 

As more than 120 world leaders will attend the summit, Johnson will call for action from the audience on “coal, cars, cash and trees,” which is also the signature shorthand for four priority areas for COP26. His phrase translates to phasing out coal, ramping up the transition to electric vehicles and also ending deforestation across the world. It also calls for pumping in more cash into climate finance to help the developing nations on the frontline of the climate crisis, stated the report. 

He is also expected to say, “We have to move from talk and debate and discussion to concerted, real-world action on coal, cars, cash and trees.” 

“Not more hopes and targets and aspirations, valuable though they are, but clear commitments and concrete timetables for change. We need to get real about climate change and the world needs to know when that’s going to happen.”

UK PM to announce £1 billion aid to climate finance

As per Sky News report, Boris Johnson will utilise his speech in Glasgow to announce an additional £1 billion of UK aid for tackling climate change over a period of five years. This would bring Britain’s aid for climate change to a “world-leading” £12.6 billion by 2025, subject to the economy growing as forecast. As per the report, the climate activists have welcomed the fresh funding by the UK for climate finance which has remained a longstanding tricky issue in the negotiations. 

However, environmentalists have reportedly said that the figure was overshadowed by earlier UK cutes to foreign aid. The media outlet quoted Tom Burke, chairman and co-founder of think tank E3G as saying “This looks much more like managing today's headlines than managing the climate crisis.”

(IMAGE: AP)

(With PTI inputs)