Protesters drive Boris Johnson's attention to climate change as 100 days left for COP26

As the UK prepares to host UN negotiations that will determine whether the globe swings into environmental catastrophe this decade, protesters will swarm London's Parliament Square on Friday morning, calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to make the climate issue his top priority. While 100 demonstrators yell that Johnson and his chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are "missing in action" on the climate crisis, giant alarm clocks will show time running out.

Calls for Government to step up climate action

On Saturday, the UN's COP26 summit, which begins on November 1 in Glasgow, will mark 100 days left to the summit. Hundreds of world leaders are expected to arrive for the commencement, and officials from 196 countries will spend two weeks in high-pressure negotiations aimed at setting a new course toward a more secure environment.

Floods in Europe and China, wildfires in the United States, deadly heatwaves expanding into northern latitudes, and extreme weather all around the world provide a taste of what's at stake. Scientists warn that unless global greenhouse gas emissions are cut in half in the next decade, temperatures would climb by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, making extreme heat, droughts, and floods like those experienced in recent weeks the norm rather than the exception, with disastrous consequences.

According to The Guardian, in a historic speech at Kew Gardens this week, John Kerry, the US president's special envoy on climate, Joe Biden, warned, "COP26 in Glasgow [is] a pivotal moment for the world to come together to meet and master the climate challenge … in little more than 100 days, we can save the next hundred years." 

100 days to COP26 summit

"COP26is our last best hope of avoiding the worst effects of climate change, and we cannot afford to fail. Over the next 100 days, we need all governments to accelerate the green transition, so that we leave Glasgow with a clear plan to limit global warming to 1.5C. This will set the course of this decisive decade for our planet and future generations," The Guardian quoted Alok Sharma, the UK minister who will preside over the conference, as saying.  

However, as Sharma prepares for a major gathering of global ministers this weekend, and as the United States ramps up its diplomacy ahead of COP26, climate experts and UN veterans told the Guardian that Johnson was failing to grasp the reins, both internationally and domestically.

We ask ourselves every day – where is the prime minister? It’s clear that he has not grasped the scale of holding the biggest diplomatic event on UK soil since the second world war. This should be his No 1 priority," The Guardian quoted Chris Venables of the Green Alliance thinktank as saying.

Kerry's policy contribution, in which he urged on China, the world's largest emitter, to join the US in taking more climate action, was not heard by any government ministers at Kew. In the audience was Ed Miliband, Labour's shadow business secretary, who attended UN climate talks as Gordon Brown's environment secretary.

One of the UK presidency's major accomplishments has been to keep the COP26 discussions focused on keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The 2015 Paris Agreement established two essential objectives: a formal commitment to keep temperature rises well below 2°C and an aspirational aim of staying below the 1.5°C-mark.

Funding is another major concern for COP26. Developing countries were guaranteed $100 billion per year in climate money by 2020 to assist them to reduce emissions and cope with the effects of climate change. That goal has yet to be reached, and failure to do so is undermining developing country trust.

Picture Credit: AP/Pixabay