Climate Change Could See 'Crops Wither' & 'Locusts Swarm' – UK PM Boris Johnson Addresses COP26
12:33 GMT 01.11.2021 (Updated: 14:48 GMT 01.11.2021)
© AP Photo / Alberto Pezzali
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The UK PM opened the COP26 conference by warning that “the clock is ticking” in the race to avert a massive climate crisis.
On Monday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for urgent action at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, speaking to an audience of more than 120 world leaders about "coal, cars, cash, and trees."
He outlined phasing out coal, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, and ending deforestation as priorities, as well as stumping up funds to help developing nations on the front line of the climate crisis.
BoJo warned that if temperature targets are missed "we could see crops wither and locusts swarm."
The world could see fives times as many droughts and six times as many heatwaves, while whole cities could disappear if the planet continues heating up at its current rate, he warned.
"The longer we take to act, the higher the price gets," Johnson said.
Johnson said the private sector needs to step in to boost the inflow of hard cash to help the fight against climate change.
Prince Charles, who also spoke during the opening of COP26, has reiterated the notion that climate crisis requires heavy investments in order to be tackled.
“We know this will take trillions, not billions, of dollars. We also know that countries, many of whom are burdened by growing levels of debt, simply cannot afford to “go green.” Here, we need a vast military-style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector…” he told the audience.
"I can only urge you, as the world’s decision-makers, to find practical ways of overcoming differences so we can all get down to work, together, to rescue this precious planet and save the threatened future of our young people."
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) November 1, 2021
- HRH The Prince of Wales, speaking at #COP26. pic.twitter.com/Zn6eNojqOC
"In this room we can deploy hundreds of billions but the markets have hundreds of trillions," Johnson said.
British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has also addressed the world leaders at the conference in Glasgow, saying that the world is "already in trouble."
"Our burning of fossil fuels, our destruction of nature, our approach to industry, construction and learning, our releasing carbon into the atmosphere - we are already in trouble. The stability that we all depend on is breaking. This story is one of inequality as well as instability. Today those who have done the least to cause this problem are being the hardest hit - ultimately all of us will feel the impacts, some of which are now unavoidable," Sir David said.
The one and only Sir David Attenborough telling world leaders that it’s time to act - and that there is no longer any excuse for inaction - was a powerful moment of the #COP26 opening ceremony pic.twitter.com/CdQyM0EgiE
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) November 1, 2021
US President Joe Biden, India’s PM Narendra Modi, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, and Ibrahim Solih, president of hard-hit Maldives, among other leaders, are attending COP26 in Glasgow.
