The world must act now to “save humanity” from the catastrophic impacts of global warming, urged the UN Secretary General before world leaders gathered in Glasgow for the much anticipated COP26 on climate.
“It is time to say ENOUGH,” Antonio Guterres launched in front of more than a hundred leaders from all continents, including the American Joe Biden, the Indian Narendra Modi or the French Emmanuel Macron.
“Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining always deeper. We are digging our own graves, ”he said, denouncing our“ dependence on fossil fuels ”.
“Humanity has long played time on the climate. It’s one minute to midnight on the apocalypse clock. We must act now, ”added British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, host of the summit, warning against the“ uncontrollable ”anger that a failure of this COP26 would cause six years after the Paris Agreement.
“Our children, the unborn children and their children (…), if we fail, they will not forgive us”, he insisted, repeating the accusations of “blah blah” addressed by the young Swedish muse Greta Thunberg to world leaders.
Observers hoped that the meeting over the weekend of the leaders of the G20, which accounts for nearly 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, would give a strong impetus to this Scottish COP postponed for a year due to the Covid-19.
The G20 has reaffirmed in unison the objective of limiting warming to +1.5 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era, adding an ambition of carbon neutrality around the middle of the century and the end of subsidies to power plants. coal abroad. But this did not convince either the NGOs or Antonio Guterres who expressed his “disappointed hopes”.
The United States, whose president is due to speak on Monday afternoon, have mostly pointed the finger at Beijing, saying they are “disappointed” by the lack of commitments from China, the main global polluter, and Russia. at the G20. The Russian and Chinese presidents are among the big absentees at COP26, but a written message from Xi Jinping is due to be released on Monday.
The challenges of COP26, which is to last two weeks, are numerous, each more difficult and explosive than the next in a context of a global pandemic which has weakened poor countries already vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
India expected
First of all, ambition. The current commitments of some 200 signatories of the Paris agreement, if they were respected, would lead to a “catastrophic” warming of 2.7 ° C according to the UN.
While China has just formally submitted its new climate commitments, which resume without reinforcing the promises made by President Xi Jinping, India, another major issuer, is now at the center of expectations.
If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes announcements during his speech Monday afternoon, it “could put more pressure on China and others,” commented Alden Meyer, analyst at the think tank E3G.
Another hot topic is the still unfulfilled promise of rich countries to increase their climate aid to developing countries to $ 100 billion per year from 2020.
The objective has de facto been postponed three years to 2023, reinforcing the crisis of confidence between the North, responsible for global warming, and the South, victim of its effects.
“Indifferent”
“Climate finance is not charity. It’s a question of justice, ”Lia Nicholson said on Sunday, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), also denouncing the refusal of large economies to leave coal.
The forecasts of the UN climate experts (IPCC), who estimate that the threshold of +1.5 ° C, the ideal objective of the Paris Agreement, could be reached ten years earlier than expected, around 2030, are “Terrifying,” she added. “Even more terrifying for those of us who are on the front lines of this crisis, already suffering the terrible consequences” in a world that has gained about 1.1 ° C.
All the promises expected at COP26 will be closely scrutinized, in particular by the young activists who made the trip to Glasgow despite the obstacles linked to the pandemic.
“As citizens of this planet, we call on you to face the climate emergency”, plead in an open letter several of them, including the Swedish Greta Thunberg who arrived Saturday by train in Scotland. Not next year. Not next month. Now, ”said this call, which had collected nearly a million signatures on Monday.