GLASGOW – Boris Johnson started the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, but wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough stole the show.
The British Prime Minister summoned climate activist Greta Thunberg when he opened the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow with a warning that the world cannot keep talking loudly while doing nothing.
After greeting the world leaders, he reminded them that without action “all these promises will be nothing but blah blah blah and the wrath and impatience of the world will be unsustainable. “
The keynote speech continued its depressing tone from the end of this weekend’s G20, a contrast to the usual self-congratulations after international summits.
Attenborough told world leaders that humanity is “already in trouble” due to climate change. The 95-year-old spoke emotionally, warning: “The stability we all depend on is broken.”
He asked the delegates: “Is this how our story should end – a tale of the wisest species judged by the overly human characteristic of not seeing the bigger picture in the pursuit of short-term goals?”
Johnson could not resist references to barking cows and James Bond and told delegates “the doomsday device is genuine.”
“The clock is ticking to the furious rhythm of hundreds of billions of pistons and furnaces and engines with which we pump carbon into the air faster and faster,” he said, stressing that if we continue on the same path, Miami, Shanghai and Alexandria will be under water.
His speech came as many delegates faced long queues to get into the summit, with some meetings Monday morning delayed or postponed as a result.
In interviews before the opening ceremony, Johnson addressed the long-standing question mark over plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria, the north-west of England, which is currently being assessed by the local council.
He told the BBC he “was not in favor of more coal”, but insisted that the potential new coal in Cumbria “was not a decision for me.”
An agreement to phase out coal turned out to be intangible at the G20, and Johnson acknowledged it would be one of his most important jobs in Glasgow.
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