COP26 has slowed down climate change, says Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, says COP26 succeeded in slowing down the rate of climate change but could not stop it. 

In a press conference on Sunday, Boris said COP26 has equipped nations with the tools needed to turn global warming around. 

He said although more work needs to be done, significant progress was made at Glasgow and the goal of restricting the growth in temperature to 1.5C is still alive. 

“Yesterday evening, we finally came to the kind of game-changing agreement that the world needs to see. Almost 200 countries gave their name to the Glasgow Climate Pact, marking a decisive shift in the world approach to tackling climate emissions,” he said. 

“What we could considerably do was slow the rate of increase and equip ourselves with the tools to turn it around. And the reason I am so optimistic is that I think for the first time, humanity is genuinely equipping ourselves with the equipment we need to hold anthropogenic climate change altogether. 

“We came to COP with a call for real action on coal, cars, cash and trees and real action is exactly what we’ve got. Before Paris, the world was on course for a devastating 4C warming by the end of the century, after Paris, we were heading for 3C.

“At Glasgow, we’ve turned that down to around 2C increase and of course that is still far too high. But for all our disagreements, the world is undeniably heading in the right direction. Even the most pessimistic commentator will tell you that, that goal of restricting growth in temperatures to 1.5 is still alive. Now the work continues to make that ambition a reality.” 

He however added that developed countries would get the $100 billion climate finance target “a bit later than we would have liked”.