Charles: We have narrow window to save planet
PRINCE Charles has warned that the world has a ‘dangerously narrow’ window to avoid climate catastrophe, in a dramatic intervention days before global leaders meet in Glasgow for COP26.
But he added that ‘after far too long’, the issue was now ‘of paramount importance to the world’.
That suggests he is hopeful the COP26 summit, which he and the Queen are due to attend, alongside US president Joe Biden, will see a meaningful deal struck.
In a pre-recorded message to the Saudi Green Initiative Forum, Charles said: ‘COP26 is said to be the largest gathering of international leaders ever hosted by the United Kingdom.
‘This reflects the fact that, at last, and after far too long, climate change and biodiversity loss are clear global challenges of paramount importance to the world.
‘At the same time, the ongoing pandemic has highlighted that human health, planetary health and economic health are fundamentally interconnected.
‘We now have a dangerously narrow window of opportunity in which to accelerate a green recovery, while laying the foundations for a sustainable future.’
However, Alok Sharma, president of COP26, admitted securing the necessary deal would be difficult, and ‘definitely harder’ than it was in Paris, six years ago.
The Cabinet Office Minister struck a cautious note just over a week before the summit is due to begin – and warned countries they would be held responsible, in the eyes of the world, for their part in failing to stop global warming.
The Paris Accord, struck at COP21 in 2015, saw world leaders commit to keeping global warming at well below 2C, and preferably below 1.5C.
Now it is hoped that a new deal at the summit, starting on October 31, will set out a route to stopping the temperature rising by 1.5C, compared with pre-industrial levis els. But key figures, such as Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin, are not set to attend.
Mr Sharma told The Guardian: ‘It was brilliant what they did in Paris, it was a framework agreement, [but] a lot of the detailed rules were left for the future.
‘It’s like, we’ve got to the end of the exam paper, the most difficult questions are left, you’re running out of time, and you go, “How are we going to answer this one?” This definitely harder than Paris on lots of levels.
‘But what we have going for us is that there is an understanding that we need to deal with this.’
The scale of the challenge was spelled out in bleak terms by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in August, which warned the world faced the threat of ‘irreversible’ climate disaster.
‘The IPCC report, while it was very alarming, was quite helpful in helping to focus minds,’ Mr Sharma added. ‘The question is whether or not countries are willing in Glasgow to go forward and commit to consensus on keeping 1.5C alive.’
He suggested a confrontational approach could be taken to countries seen as not doing enough to cut emissions.
‘What nobody will want is to have the finger pointed at them to say, “You are the ones who ultimately ensured that Glasgow wasn’t seen as producing a credible result.”’
He revealed talks have been ongoing with China – the world’s biggest polluter – which will have a delegation in Glasgow.
Mr Sharma said: ‘They signed up to the communique in July that we negotiated in Naples, that all the G20 would come up with enhanced NDCs [Nationally Determined Contributions] before COP. I reminded them they needed to deliver on that.’
Mr Sharma, who was born in Agra, India, and moved to the UK when he was five, believes he will be speaking up for countries most vulnerable to climate change.
‘I see myself as a champion of developing countries and the climate-vulnerable. Some of them will be under water at 1.5C,’ he said.
‘All these people are pretty adamant that what has to emerge from Glasgow is for us to be able to say we’ve kept 1.5 alive.’
‘At last, climate change is clear global challenge’