UK PM 'cautiously optimistic' about COP climate deal

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said humanity was starting to even the score against climate change after a two-day COP26 summit, but warned there was a "very long way to go".

Johnson said he was "cautiously optimistic" after the summit in Glasgow adopted new promises on deforestation, methane emissions and cash for poorer countries to avert the worst of global warming.

He came to Scotland from a G20 meeting in Rome, and en route to Italy had told reporters that if fighting climate change was a game of football, humanity was losing 5-1.

"And I think what you can say today... is that we've pulled back a goal or perhaps even two, and I think we're going to be able to take this thing to extra time," Johnson told a news conference.

But as the leaders left their negotiators to thrash out the painstaking detail of a climate accord over the next two weeks, he added: "There is still a very long way to go."

Johnson noted that Japan had pledged another $10 billion over the next five years towards a much-delayed fund of $100 billion set up by richer nations to fund climate mitigation in poorer ones.

In Glasgow, the UN gathering's headline ambition is to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius, down from the 2.0 degree target hatched at Paris in 2015.

The difference between the two numbers was "literally a matter of life and death" for smaller island states, the prime minister stressed.

Switching from football to thriller movies, Johnson added: "The clock on the doomsday clock... is still ticking."

"But we've got a bomb disposal team on site, and they're starting to snip the wires -- I hope some of the right wires."

Related Links
Climate Science News - Modeling, Mitigation Adaptation

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Drought to downpour: California weather whiplash is climate change sentinel
Los Angeles (AFP) Oct 29, 2021
It had been completely dry in Sacramento for six months. Then the heavens opened and a record-breaking amount of rain fell in one day. Such extreme shifts are becoming more frequent in California and are a harbinger of what is to come for the rest of a warming planet, scientists say. "California is a sentinel state. It's like a canary in a coal mine," said Justin Mankin, a Dartmouth College professor who specializes in climate change. "The state is a crucial bellwether for society's capacity ... read more