'6 out of 10 chance' of getting other countries to sign up for COP26's goals: UK PM

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that there is a “six out of 10” chance of getting other countries to sign up for the financial and environmental targets of the upcoming COP26 conference. According to its official website, the summit aims to raise US$100 billion every year in climate finance to support developing countries. On Sunday, Johnson kickstarted his trip to the US, hoping to use it to “galvanise” progress towards a new climate deal, The Guardian reported. 

“Getting it all this week is going to be a stretch. Getting it all done by Cop, six out of 10. It’s going to be tough.” the conservative leader said speaking to media reporters at the beginning of his three day trip to America. 

Notably, more than 30 global leaders have been invited to attend a meeting on climate change on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Speaking about the same, Johnson said that the developing countries are “ looking at us” to help them make the transition in a way that they must. Furthermore, he said that it was England that initiated the Industrial Revolution, and now it was time to “help them move beyond hydrocarbon technology.”

“We began fossil fuel emissions, it was our country that had the first sustained Industrial Revolution. We began it, and they look to us to help them move beyond hydrocarbon technology,” he told reporters enroute New York. 

About COP26

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) was originally scheduled in November last year but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The conference, jointly hosted by the UK and Italy, is now planned to occur at Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow. According to the official website of COP26, the conference aims to protect and restore ecosystems and build resistance against climate change.

Earlier, summit chief Alok Sharma said that this will be the clearest warning yet that human behaviour is drastically exacerbating global warming, and they have to take important measures. He also stated that they can't afford to wait for two, five, or ten years and now is the moment, adding that unless all nations act now, we will tragically be out of time. 

Image: AP