Boris Johnson: IPCC Climate Report makes realistic reading | Climate change

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Boris Johnson has described recent warnings from UN scientists about the extent of the climate crisis as a “realistic read” that should provide the world with a wake-up call ahead of the Cop26 summit.

With the World Climate Conference opening in Glasgow in less than three months, the British prime minister said he hoped the IPCC report would highlight the need for action now.

Ministers fear that the UK-hosted conference, which has been described as a historic moment in global efforts to reduce emissions, may end up being seen as a wet hoax. Presumably the moment countries set out more details about how they contribute to the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, but some of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, such as China and India, have not provided plans Hinge.

Commenting on the IPCC report, Johnson said: “Today’s report makes a sobering reading, and it is clear that the next decade will be pivotal to securing the future of our planet.

“We know what needs to be done to reduce global warming — making coal history and switching to clean energy sources, protecting nature and providing climate finance to countries on the front line.”

Johnson also said he hoped the report would be “a wake-up call for the world to take action now, before we meet in Glasgow in November for the crucial Cop26 summit”.

Alok Sharma, Ministerial Minister and President of Cop26, travels around the world encouraging countries to update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – their policy pledges to reduce emissions. More than 110 countries have provided updated national contributions with commitments extending through 2030, but some major economies have not, and climate experts have deemed other plans insufficient.

Sharma said: “Our message to every country, government, business and part of society is simple. The next decade is critical: Follow the science and take your responsibility to keep the 1.5°C goal alive.”

Labor leader Keir Starmer said the IPCC report was “the strongest reminder yet that the climate crisis is here now and is the greatest long-term threat we face”. He also accused Johnson of “not taking the crisis with the seriousness it deserves”.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also accused Johnson of complacency, claiming that the UK was “showing other countries that inaction on climate is acceptable”.

“If the government wants to show its respect for the world’s leading scientists on climate chaos, they can start by abolishing the Campo oil field, abolishing the Cumbria coal mine, and ending British funding for the massive gas project in Mozambique; they can do it today,” said Conor Schwartz, climate leader at Friends of the Earth. “.

Extinction Rebellion (XR) saw the publication of the IPCC report by announcing that from Monday 23 August there would be two weeks of protest events in London, with the aim of disrupting the city and what it describes as “the root cause of the climate and environmental crisis – political economy”.

XR co-founder Claire Farrell said: “We are in the midst of a collective act of global social evil, which is unprecedented in all of history. We spend more time measuring it than trying to stop it: that in itself is a crime.”

Referring to a recent briefing by Allegra Stratton, the prime minister’s spokeswoman for Cop26, Farrell said: “This government is a joke, telling us how to wash our dishes when they should lead the world toward mobilization that saves humanity.”

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