India’s prime minister Narendra Modi vowed to cut his nation’s emissions to net zero by 2070, a major turnround for the world’s third-largest polluter, as part of a several new targets set on the first full day of the COP26 climate summit.
India would get half its energy from renewable sources by the end of this decade, Modi said, while also demanding that rich countries pay $1tn to help developing countries reach their climate goals.
Vietnam said it would target net zero by 2050, while Brazil is aiming to cut emissions 50 per cent this decade.
However, neither the US nor China, the world’s biggest emitters, came forward with any fresh progress on their climate policies.
World leaders warned of the severe consequences of nations failing to strike deals to limit global warming to 1.5C over pre-industrial times at the opening session of the Glasgow COP26 UN climate conference.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson, the host of the summit, admitted climate conferences alone had failed to prevent climate change occurring, adopting activist Greta Thunberg’s criticism of “blah, blah, blah” promises.
He warned that the anger and impatience of society would be “uncontainable” if world leaders failed to take decisive action.
As 120 leaders gathered in Glasgow, there were also notable absences including China’s Xi Jinping and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro — and a last-minute cancellation by Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The UK, Spain, Denmark and Italy put new funding on the table for developing countries, working to close the gap on a promised $100bn in climate finance a year.
However, the pomp and ceremony of the opening day that came with several hours of speeches may do little to iron out the serious differences that climate negotiators face, as they sit down to hammer out the detailed rules for achieving the Paris climate accord goals during the next two weeks of COP26.
Joe Biden, the US president, also urged tougher action on emissions but did not announce any new moves, beyond the commitment made at the start of his presidency to cut emissions by 50 to 52 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels.
Concerns have mounted this week about Biden’s ability to pass his landmark climate spending package through Congress, casting doubt over how forceful he can be as a driver of ambition at COP26.
“We are standing at an inflection point in world history,” he said, in a downbeat speech, describing climate change as an existential threat.
Alongside a line-up that included appearances from environmental campaigner and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and the Prince of Wales, the entreaties attempted to paper over differences at the beginning of a negotiation process that is likely to be extremely difficult.
Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, pointed out that central banks had delivered $25tn of quantitative easing in recent years, including $9tn in the past 18 months to battle Covid-19. She asked why that could not be done again to fight climate change.
In a sign of a growing focus on the actions of big business, the head of the UN also announced at the opening ceremony that he would establish an expert group to develop a standard for measuring and analysing corporate net zero pledges.
“There is a deficit of credibility and a surplus of confusion over emissions reductions and net zero targets, with different meanings and different metrics,” UN secretary-general António Guterres said.
While an ebullient Johnson enjoyed his role as ringmaster of the climate talks, climate groups also raised questions about whether the UK’s own policies were sufficient to reach its net zero goals. The prime minister is flying back to London on Tuesday, rather than taking the train.
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, also drew parallels with the effort made to combat Covid-19. “Climate change and biodiversity loss are no different; in fact they pose an even greater existential threat,” he said. “We need to be put on what might be called a warlike footing.”
He took a stand against coal-fired power and backed the push for a price to be set for carbon, which would penalise heavy emitters.
“We have to reduce emissions urgently and take action to tackle the carbon already in the atmosphere including from coal-fired power stations,” he added. “Putting a value on carbon, thus making carbon-capture solutions more economical, is absolutely critical.”
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said leaders would be “cursed if they don’t get this right” on climate change. “They will be remembered for this fortnight,” he said, in an interview with the BBC.
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