Prince Charles warned the world just days before the United Nations climate negotiations in the U.K. He said there was a “dangerously short” window for addressing global warning.
The British heir to the throne stated Saturday that the summit in Glasgow on Oct. 31 showed that climate change and biodiversity loss have finally been “of paramount importance to this world”
Charles, 72, an environmentalist and longtime activist, said that the coronavirus pandemic had “shown that human, planetary, and economic health are fundamentally interconnected.”
He stated that “we now have a dangerously limited window of opportunity to accelerate a green revival, while laying foundations for a long-term future.”
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, has stated that it wants to achieve net-zero greenhouse gases emissions by 2060. China and Russia both have the same net zero date, while the United States and the European Union are targeting 2050.
At the end of March, representatives from around 200 countries will meet in Scotland for the U.N. climate conference (COP26). It is believed to be one of the last opportunities to make carbon-cutting commitments that can limit global warming.
Alok Sharma, the British official who serves as the COP26 president, stated that getting countries to cooperate enough to maintain global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — the goal set by a summit in Paris 2015 — would prove “really difficult.”
The current emissions-slashing promises are not enough. Major polluters like India and China have yet to submit carbon-cutting plans over the next ten years.
Sharma stated that “It was brilliant, they did in Paris, it (was) a framework agreement, but (but) many of the details were left for future,” The Guardian newspaper reported.
“The challenge is in deciding whether countries will agree to Glasgow and reach a consensus on 1.5C. That’s the question.”
