London, Europe Brief News – Global leaders have not done enough to honour commitments made at the COP26 climate summit, its president has said.
Alok Sharma said more must be done to hit the targets agreed in Glasgow, warning that failure would be “an act of monstrous self-harm”.
Six months on from the event, he said countries needed to “up the pace” in the push towards carbon-neutral energy.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also issued a warning over climate change, during a trip to the US.
She said that a failure to hit targets agreed at COP26 would be “catastrophic” for the planet.
Mr Sharma, a minister in the UK government’s cabinet office, was in Glasgow to mark six months from last year’s UN conference.
He said it was understandable that climate change was no longer on the front pages, amid the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis.
But he said these issues “should increase, not diminish, our determination to deliver on what the world agreed in Glasgow”.
The summit was aimed at hammering out agreements that would hold average global temperature rises under 1.5C.
However, scientists warn that there is a 6-10% chance of meeting this threshold, and that even if pledges are fully delivered the temperature rise will be closer to 2C.