The eyes have it: Putin and Obama in frosty exchange at Paris climate talks
World leaders have urged negotiators – and each other – not to throw away a unique opportunity to agree decisive action to curb climate change, as talks at the United Nations summit begin in Paris.
Nearly 150 leaders and heads of state, including David Cameron, Barack Obama and Prince Charles, were at the opening of the make-or-break conference to tackle global warming yesterday.
The US President invoked the urgency of the civil rights movement in his homeland 50 years ago. “I believe, in the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, that there is such a thing as being too late,” said Mr Obama. “And when it comes to climate change, that hour is almost upon us.”
He added: “What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshalling our best efforts to save it? We salute the people of Paris for insisting that this crucial conference will go on.”
Prince Charles echoed his call, urging world leaders to “think of your grandchildren, as I think of mine”, as he demanded greater action to tackle climate change. Mr Obama also used the opportunity to hold a half-hour meeting with Russia’s President Putin to discuss Syria.
During the two-week conference, representatives from nearly 200 countries will work furiously in the hope of agreeing a treaty strong enough to limit global warming to 2˚C, beyond which the consequences become increasingly devastating. In the runup to the summit, more than 170 countries pledged to cut carbon emissions that would limit climate change to 2.7˚C. They must now agree a way to ensure those pledges are met and a system requiring each country to increase its pledge every few years until the 2˚C target is hit.
Failure to reach an agreement would make it virtually impossible to avoid devastating climate change, as it would take years to rebuild sufficient momentum to make another attempt. “You are here today to write the script for a new future,” said the French President, François Hollande. “A political moment may not come again. We have never faced such a test. But neither have we encountered such great opportunity.”
The UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, added: “The eyes of millions of people around the world are on the Paris meeting. You have the opportunity, in fact the responsibility, to finalise an agreement that delivers.”
But leaders were at pains to remind each other that a huge amount of work remained to be done in a short period.
In his speech, David Cameron asked how we could possibly explain to future generations that we had the opportunity to tackle climate change but didn’t take it.
“Let us imagine what we’d have to say to our grandchildren if we failed. We’d have to say that it was all too difficult and theywould replywhat was so difficult when the world was in peril?” he said. “What we are looking at is doable and therefore we should come together and do it.”
But campaigners accused the Prime Minister of preaching one thing while practising another at home in the UK.
“David Cameron’s grandstanding on the international stage is riven with hypocrisy because of the complete incompetence of his government on climate change,” said Craig Bennett, chief executive of Friends of the Earth. “Since the election. the UK government has taken a wrecking ball to clean-energy and low-carbon policies.”