U.K.’s Johnson Says G-20 Climate Pledges Are Drop in the Ocean

(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson said environment pledges by the Group of 20 countries are “drops in a rapidly warming ocean” and warned that COP26 climate talks risk failing if urgent action isn’t taken.

Speaking in Rome after fraught talks on climate at a G-20 meeting, Johnson called on other nations to step up their action or see the landmark Paris Agreement unravel.

“If we are going to prevent COP26 from being a failure then that must change,” Johnson said. “And I must be clear, that if Glasgow fails, then the whole thing fails. The Paris Agreement will have crumpled at the first reckoning. The world’s only mechanism, viable mechanism, for dealing with climate change will be holed beneath the water line.” 

The U.K. prime minister signaled progress has been made in recent weeks, including commitments by Saudi Arabia, Australia and Russia to neutralize carbon emissions. He also lauded the U.S. for doubling climate aid, and a G-20 commitment to end financing for overseas coal projects. But all of that, he said, isn’t enough.

“These commitments, welcome as they are, are drops in a rapidly warming ocean when we consider the challenge we have all admitted is ahead of us,” Johnson said at a press conference in Rome at the conclusion of a two-day summit. “The countries most responsible for historic and present-day emissions are not yet doing their fair share of the work.”

He lamented that “just 12 G-20 members have committed to reach net zero by 2050 or earlier” and that “barely half of us have submitted improved plans for how we will cut carbon emissions since the Paris Summit in 2015.”

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