Alok Sharma, president of COP26, during a meeting held in New Delhi, India on 18 August PRAKASH SIINGH/AFP via Getty Images
Although he insists that he is not an environmentalist, the man who is charged with leading a climate change summit that is successful in five weeks claims he is now convinced of global warming's urgency.
Alok Sharma, president of the COP26 meeting and who assumed the role in February 2020, said, "I am a normal person." It has helped me to understand why this is important.
Sharma claims that people are becoming more aware of the importance of this issue. She cites a recent conversation with a nurse who was performing routine covid-19 tests. She thanked you for your comments about the climate yesterday in the news. This resonates with people like me who were not focused on it necessarily. This is what we must do for future generations.
Advertisement
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, shares this attitude. Johnson stated that he is not an environmentalist who enjoys taking moral offense at humanity's excesses in a speech to the UN General Assembly on 22 September. Johnson said that he was not one of these people and called for the world to be more aware of climate change. He also spoke out in support of the COP26 summit in Glasgow (UK) this November.
COP26 is the most important international climate conference since 2015 when the Paris Agreement was adopted to limit global warming to 1.5C or less at best, and 2C at its worst.
One hundred world leaders have confirmed their attendance at the summit in Glasgow. This will make it the largest ever hosted political gathering by the UK. Sharma believes that this number will increase, though key players like Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, have not yet confirmed their attendance. He says that we would like to see as many heads of state as possible. Joe Biden, the US president, has stated that he will attend along with other high-profile figures such as Pope Francis.
To learn more about how green living can be used to combat climate change, take our online sustainability course.
Sharma claims that he had constructive, but honest discussions with China's top climate diplomat, Xie Zhanghua, during his visit to China earlier in the month. While I agreed that it was good to have these commitments from the president we now need to see the specific policy. Some of those may be presented before COP, but the ball is still in China's court.
Sharma insists that the summit can maintain the 1.5C target, in spite of a UN report showing that global emission are likely to increase by 2030 instead of almost halving as needed to reach the temperature goal.
He says that 1.5C must be kept alive. The UN report was very sobering. He said that some countries are on track to reduce their emissions by more than 10% by 2030. Many of the largest polluters have not yet created a revised emission reduction plan. This leaves the door open to further action prior to COP26.
He says that if all of the largest emitters followed suit, it would put a huge dent in our progress towards the end this decade. He says that the key to success will be for G20 countries to keep their July promise of more ambitious plans. Many countries, including India, have not submitted one.
Sharma will not reveal the countries Johnson will visit during the last weeks of COP26. However, he said that the prime minister wants to make the conference a success. Sharma says that he has been involved in this process through bilateral calls with world leaders.
Sharma wants rich countries to fulfill their 12 year-old promise to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance for poorer nations by 2020. These funds were $20 billion short in 2019, but the figures are rising. This week, Joe Biden, the US president, announced that the nation's climate finance would be doubled to $11.4 billion per year. Sharma believes this is a significant step.
The $100 billion figure is a matter for trust in politics, and especially in climate politics. Trust is fragile. Sharma says that trust must be rebuilt if we want to bring everyone together.
In the last year, the minister has traveled to numerous countries to support the climate summit. He stated that a July trip to Barbuda in the Caribbean, where he saw the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma 2017, was one of his most memorable experiences.
It is still a disaster area. Literally, it felt like a hurricane had just landed a few weeks before. They have had to deal with a lot of challenges. Migration has been a reality. He says that as climate change gets worse, migration will become a serious problem. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, migration will increase this century due to climate change.
Sharma claims that a representative from a small island country told Sharma that climate change would soon mean they wouldn't have a home. He says that it is the same for millions and even millions of people all over the globe.
Register for the Countdown to CO26 newsletter, which covers this important year in climate policy
