2-week UN climate summit formally opens in Glasgow

Following Sunday’s inauguration, officials began procedural measures before world leaders gathered in Scotland’s largest city on Monday to ramp up their countries’ efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and tackle the effects of climate change. A raft of cases began to be addressed.

During October 31-November many issues are being discussed. 12 talks have been on the agenda for decades on how rich countries can help poor countries tackle emissions and adapt to a warming world. The slow pace of action has angered many environmental campaigners, who are expected to hold vigorous and constructive protests during the summit.

The outgoing chairman of the meeting, Carolina Schmidt of Chile, asked officials to observe a minute’s silence for those who have died due to the coronavirus pandemic, since the last UN climate conference at the end of 2019, shortly before the outbreak began time was organized earlier.

This is a breaking news update. Below is an earlier story from AP.

GLASSGOW, Scotland (AP) – A day before the United Nations climate summit formally opens on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, leaders around the world to lay out their perspectives to address the common challenge of global warming. gather in.

At the meeting, negotiators from nearly 200 countries will seek to tackle issues that have languished since the 2015 Paris climate accord, and to intensify their efforts to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) this century. Will find ways. compared to pre-industrial times.

Scientists say the prospects of achieving the goal agreed upon in the French capital six years ago are slowly diminishing. The world has already warmed by more than 1.1C and current projections based on planned emissions reductions over the next decade are set to reach 2.7C by the year 2100.

Experts have warned that the amount of energy from such planetary warming would melt the planet’s ice, raise global sea levels and increase the likelihood and intensity of extreme weather.

“There has been progress in the last few years but I would say that the work we actually have here is harder than Paris,” said British government minister Alok Sharma, who is presiding over the Glasgow talks.

“What we have to do since (Paris) is agree some detailed rules and some of the toughest rules are still outstanding six years later, and it’s really challenging,” he told Sky News.

“Of course, we know that geopolitics is more difficult than it was in Paris times,” he said, adding that it was time for governments to “leave behind the ghosts of the past”.

“We need to come from Glasgow to say with credibility, ‘We’ve kept 1.5 alive,'” Sharma said.

He said China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, had just raised its climate targets somewhat.

“But of course we expected more,” Sharma told the BBC.

US climate envoy John Kerry warned last week about the dramatic effects that the 2015 Paris Agreement will have on nature and people beyond the target, but expressed optimism that the world was moving in the right direction. The United States is currently the world’s second largest polluter, although it has historically accounted for the largest amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

India, the world’s third largest emitter, is yet to follow China, the US and the European Union in setting a target of reaching ‘net zero’ emissions. Negotiators are expecting India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce such a target in Glasgow.

“We need all G20s to come forward. The G20 represents 80% of global emissions and so every country matters, but the G20 in particular matters,” Sharma said.

Some issues are being discussed during October 31-November. 12 talks have been on the agenda for decades on how rich countries can help poor countries tackle emissions and adapt to a warming world. The slow pace of action has angered many environmental campaigners, who are expected to hold vigorous and constructive protests during the summit.

Speaking in Rome on Sunday, Prince Charles urged world leaders to heed the “disappointing voices” of young people who will bear the brunt of climate change.

The heir to the British throne described the talks in Glasgow as “literally a last chance saloon” for Earth.

Charles told a group of 20 leaders meeting in Rome that he had “a huge responsibility for generations yet to be born.”

“It is impossible not to hear the dismayed voices of youth who see you as the steward of the planet, holding the viability of your future in their own hands,” he said.

Charles is due to welcome the leaders to COP26 in Glasgow on Monday. His 95-year-old mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was due to attend, but his doctors have advised him to take rest.

The first day of talks is expected to focus on procedural issues. A major concern is that not all delegates will be able to meet in person, as venue and room capacity have been limited due to COVID concerns.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.