Archbishop of Canterbury Says Leaders Will Be 'Cursed' if They Fail to Reach Agreement at COP26
17:55 GMT 01.11.2021 (Updated: 05:35 GMT 04.11.2021)
© Jonathan Brady
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Earlier, Welby warned that the outcome of the COP26 climate summit will be “life or death for millions of people."
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg that world leaders will be "cursed" unless they reach an agreement during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Welby also compared the climate crisis to warnings about the Nazis before World War Two.
Kuenssberg posted some details of their conversation on Twitter.
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby’s here at COP too - tells me leaders will be ‘cursed’ if they don’t reach agreement in next fortnight, and suggests failure to act would be possibly more grave than leaders who ignored warnings about the Nazis in the 30s
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 1, 2021
This comes after earlier this month, Welby said that “the COP26 climate talks are emergency surgery for our world and its people...The outcome will be life or death for millions of people."
“The eyes of the world are on Glasgow: leaders must deliver for the whole human family. We can, and must, choose life, so that our children may live," the Archbishop said, as quoted by WalesOnline.
Welby, who is the most senior bishop in the Church of England and who worked for 11 years in the oil industry before being ordained, is at COP26 to meet with groups including young members of the Anglican community and indigenous people.
Meanwhile, the archbishop tweeted an apology for the words he "used when trying to emphasise the gravity of the situation facing us at COP26."
I unequivocally apologise for the words I used when trying to emphasise the gravity of the situation facing us at COP26. It's never right to make comparisons with the atrocities brought by the Nazis, and I'm sorry for the offence caused to Jews by these words. https://t.co/T0Be5rpnc1
— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) November 1, 2021
