COP 26: Alok Sharma sets UK government tone for climate change summit urges ‘every country’ to step forward | politics news

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COP26 chief Alok Sharma said he wanted “more from every country” and now it’s time to limit temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Before about 120 world leaders gather at the event in Glasgow on Monday for a two-day summit, Sharma urged them to do more to help the planet.

Speaking to Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday, Mr. Sharma said: “My message to them is very clear, leave the ghosts of the past behind and let us focus on the future and unite around this issue that we know matters to all of us, who protect our precious planet.”

He said the COP26 World Leaders Summit is very important to agree consensus, but added that there were a full two weeks of “detailed negotiations” after that two-day summit – and without agreement the “future is really unimaginable”.

“This is an opportunity for all of these countries to show leadership, and this is the point where they have to stand up and be counted,” he said.

“I want more from every country.

“But I think the point is that we’ve made progress and then we’re going to have to assess where there is a gap between where the commitments are and where we need to be.”

He said it was important for leaders to discuss how to bridge this gap over the next decade.

But he played down the importance of the Chinese and Russian leaders not attending in Glasgow, saying that both had “announced net zero targets for the middle of the century” and that all countries needed to show leadership on climate change.

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Sharma harassed her during youth climate speech

However, he said the challenge at COP26 is more difficult than it was in Paris in 2015.

“Paris was a wonderful and historic achievement, but it was a framework agreement,” he said.

“What we have had to do since then is agree on some of the detailed rules and some of the more difficult rules that are still pending after six years. That makes it really difficult, and of course we know geopolitics is harder than it was at the time of Paris.”

The government hopes to reach a detailed agreement between countries around the world at the end of two weeks of COP26.

Asked if Mr Sharma thought it would end with a deal, he said: “That’s what I’m leading him towards and I think what I’ve always said is what we need to get out of Glasgow credibly saying we’ve kept it 1.5°C alive.

“The 1.5C is really important.”

Image: Protests have already begun in Glasgow

He added that at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, there will be countries in the world that will be under water, which is why agreement is needed on how to tackle climate change over the next decade.

Labor’s Emily Thornberry told Trevor Phillips on Sunday the summit was “not a huge photo opportunity” for Boris Johnson and called on him to “call up all his statesmanship” to get countries to agree to a deal.

This year’s summit is of particular interest as it will be the first time the two sides will review the latest plans for how to limit global warming to 2°C but ideally 1.5°C, a target set under the Paris Agreement at COP21.

Ambitions to achieve this may be exhausted because a draft joint statement of G20 leaders contains few concrete measures to reduce carbon emissions, according to Reuters reporters who have seen the statement.

Boris Johnson told Sky News’ Beth Rigby on Saturday that success in the fight against global warming “will be very difficult” but that “all humanity is in the ring”.

On Friday, he said, “Team World” was trailing “5-1” at halftime in the battle to save the planet.

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