UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday vowed to press fellow world leaders to make concrete commitments on net zero emissions and climate finance contributions ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, arguing that it must be a summit of action, "not words."
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2021) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday vowed to press fellow world leaders to make concrete commitments on net zero emissions and climate finance contributions ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, arguing that it must be a summit of action, "not words."
"This will be the decade in which we either rise up as one to tackle climate change together or else we sink together into the mire, and this year, at COP26, will be the moment at which the world chooses which of those two fates awaits us," Johnson told the virtual Petersberg Climate Dialogue, hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The prime minister said that "the stakes are too high" for the climate summit to be hosted by the UK government in Glasgow, Scotland, in November to become "some kind of last-minute dash to the line."
"If all that emerges from COP26 is more hot air than we have absolutely no chance of keeping our planet cool," he stressed.
Johnson pledged to use the upcoming summit of the Group of Seven in Cornwall in June to seek commitment from the leaders of the world's richest economies to use their voices and votes to support the transition to net zero emissions, start a green industrial revolution and increase their climate finance contribution.
"I also hope to secure a substantial pile of cash with which to help all countries to do that," Johnson said, adding that wealthier economies have a moral and practical obligation to help developing nations tackle climate change.
According to the UK leader, rich countries must meet their existing commitments on climate finance, including the long-overdue $100 billion a year target, and then go further still.
