LONDON, Oct 24 (BNA) Prince Charles issued a warning to the world days before leaders meet in the United Kingdom for crucial UN climate talks, saying there is a “dangerously narrow” window to deal with the global warning.
The heir to the British throne said on Saturday that the summit, which begins on October 31 in Glasgow, showed that “after a very long time”, climate change and biodiversity loss are finally “of extreme importance to the world,” the Associated Press (AP) reports.
In a recorded message to the Saudi Green Initiative Forum, the 72-year-old Charles – a longtime environmentalist – said the coronavirus pandemic “highlighted that human health, planet health and economic health are fundamentally interconnected.”
“We now have a dangerously narrow opportunity in which to accelerate the green recovery, while laying the foundations for a sustainable future,” he said.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, says it aims to reach zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2060. China and Russia have set the same net zero date, while the United States, the European Union and Britain are aiming for 2050.
Representatives of about 200 countries will gather in Scotland at the end of the month for the two-week United Nations climate conference, known as COP26. Regulators say it’s one of the last opportunities to undo promises of carbon cuts that could keep global warming within manageable limits.
Getting countries to do enough to keep temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – the goal agreed at the Paris summit in 2015 – would be “really difficult” said Alok Sharma, the British official who serves as head of COP26.
Current commitments to cut emissions are not enough, and major polluters, including China and India, have yet to come up with new plans to cut carbon emissions for the next decade.
“It was great, what they did in Paris, it was a framework agreement, (but) a lot of detailed rules were left for the future,” Sharma told the Guardian.
“The question is whether countries in Glasgow are ready to go forward and unanimously commit to keeping 1.5°C alive, that’s where the challenge will be.”
RAE