Glasgow is ‘last, best hope’ to hit 1.5C target, says COP26 chairman

Glasgow, UK, Oct 31 (EFE).- The COP26 climate conference that began on Sunday in Glasgow is the “last, best hope” to keep global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the president conference Alok Sharma said.

The planet “is changing for the worse,” he said during the opening speech of the conference, which runs until 12 November. But, he added, we know what needs to be done to reverse the situation.

Sharma said he hopes the conference, which includes a summit with 120 world leaders scheduled for Monday, will help resolve pending issues and reach a deal.

“If we act now, and we act together, we can protect our precious planet. So let’s come together over these two weeks and ensure that where Paris promised, Glasgow delivers,” he added.

The meetings come six years after the Paris Agreement was reached in which signatories agreed to keep global temperatures under 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

The first review will be at COP26 after the summit was postponed last year due to the pandemic, but “climate change did not take time off”, Sharma continued.

He cited the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that confirmed in August that “human activity is unequivocally the cause of global warming.”

“Friends, in each of our countries we are seeing the devastating impact of a changing climate,” he added. EFE

er/ta/ks