‘Fragile win’ on climate change is still a success

WHEN Boris Johnson launched COP26 by warning that climate disaster was looming and that the world was at “one minute to midnight”, it’s hard not to feel that China and India simply looked at their watches and put their foot down in the race to oblivion.

Disappointment at the watered-down Glasgow agreement, enforced by the last-minute intransigence of two of the globe’s biggest polluters, is natural.

Even more so for the small nations who face calamity because of the actions of those industrial power houses.

But a sense of realism is important. What we have been denied is an ideal solution which was always unlikely. That should not overshadow the positives, which the Prime Minister is right to look for.

We may be travelling too fast, but we are going in the right direction – towards the end of fossil fuel use – and we are applying the brakes.

The dream of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees remains alive. Just. Climate change undoubtedly still threatens humanity’s future, but a “fragile win” is still a win. We just have to keep pushing, showing the rest of the world the way. The alternative is unthinkable.