Boris Johnson has warned that success in the fight to tackle global warming “is going to very difficult” but “the whole of humanity is in the ring.”
Imploring world leaders to act as the G20 summit begins in Rome on Saturday, the prime minister told Sky News’ Beth Rigby there is “a chance, if everybody puts their minds to it” that an agreement on climate change can be achieved.
But, acknowledging the scale of the challenge ahead, the PM added that global temperature rises will not be stopped at the two-week long COP26 climate summit which kicks off in Glasgow on Sunday.
Image: The PM and his wife Carrie Johnson arrived in Rome ahead of the G20 summit on Friday evening
The PM’s comments come a day after he told journalists en route to the first of the global gatherings in Rome that “team world” was “5-1” down at half-time in the battle to save the planet.
Mr Johnson also stressed the alternative to securing change was apocalyptic and could consign future generations to shortages of food, conflict and mass migrations, all caused by global warming.
Advertisement
Speaking to reporters at the Colosseum on Saturday morning, the PM once more acknowledged that “the pressure is huge”.
Asked if he is fighting a losing battle, the PM told Sky News: “Well, the whole of humanity is in the ring. And the foes of humanity are apathy and political indifference and lack of will and people’s excessive caution about what they can achieve. Those are the foes that we all collectively face.
More on Boris Johnson
Related Topics:
“And actually, I think that we can still do it. I think there is a chance, if everybody puts their minds to it, that we can get an agreement that will allow us to restrain the growth in temperatures.
“We are not going to stop climate change… we are certainly not going to stop it at COP next week.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sir David Attenborough said he ‘hopes and prays’ that nations come together at COP26 and take action
Mr Johnson said the odds of success remain “about the same” as they were when he made his football analogy to reporters on Friday, noting that the task ahead is “going to be very difficult”.
“Let’s see where we get to and the pressure is huge – but what people need to do is see the scale of the risk,” the PM said, referencing the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
Mr Johnson acknowledged that China has made “a huge amount of progress in some areas” but warned that “what we want to see is more progress from lots of countries”.
“We can fix it, but the lesson of history is that things can go badly wrong and stay wrong for a long time,” the PM continued.
With 80% of all global emissions coming from the G20 group of industrialised countries, progress this week in Rome is seen as critical to the success of COP26, the annual climate summit in Glasgow which is meant to put in place national commitments from individual countries to hit emission targets of 2% and below by 2050.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
UN Secretary General and climate activists criticise world leaders over their lack of action on climate change
Earlier this month, Alok Sharma, the UK’s COP president, challenged China, India and Saudi Arabia to deliver on G20 promises made months ago and come up with better formal targets in an interview with the Financial Times.
On Friday, the PM stressed progress was being made, with 17 nations of the G20 now committing to net-zero by 2050.
But two of the top three of the world’s largest emitters – China and India – have so far failed to commit to getting to net-zero by 2050.
Some have raised concerns that while the UK is pledging to do its bit in the fight against climate change, the country accounts for just 1% of global emissions.
And of the three biggest emitters – China, the US and India – only the US has made similar promises.
President Modi of India has resisted formal targets while there are concerns that President Xi of China is not going far enough.
China has committed to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and net-zero by 2060, but has indicated it is both unable and unwilling to move further.
US special envoy on climate change John Kerry has said the world will miss its global emissions targets unless this happens.
The PM said he spoke to President Xi on Friday and pushed the Chinese leader to bring down the peak in emissions to 2025 and to phase out coal.
“I told President Xi, when I first went to Beijing as Mayor of London, we had 40% of our energy come from coal. It is now less than 1%,” Mr Johnson told Beth Rigby.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ahead of COP26, Sky News science correspondent Thomas Moore takes a look at what progress we have made in recent years
This year’s UN Climate Change Conference, better known as COP26, kicks off this weekend and will see more than 190 countries come together in Glasgow to discuss the climate crisis.
This year’s summit is particularly important as it will be the first time the parties will review the most up-to-date plans for how they will limit global warming to 2C but ideally 1.5C, a goal set under the Paris Agreement at COP21.
Watch the Daily Climate Show at 6.30pm Monday to Friday on Sky News, the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter.
The show investigates how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.
A brother and sister have been jailed for the murder of a drug dealer in a “ferocious” knife attack.
Isaiah Marsh, 21, and his 23-year-old sibling Mya Marsh were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for killing Minister Enfrence, 21, in a row over a £200 cannabis debt.
Bank worker Mya was trying to buy drugs from Mr Enfrence in Kings Norton, Birmingham, when she met him armed with a kitchen knife at about 10am on 5 November, the city’s crown court heard.
Judge Simon Drew KC said that Mya was the aggressor in an initial confrontation with Mr Enfrence over the debt as he sentenced the siblings on Thursday.
Mya called her brother Isaiah to the scene, who “launched a ferocious attack on Minister as he lay defenceless on his back on the floor” and had intended to kill, the judge said.
Mr Enfrence suffered at least 12 stab wounds to his body, arms, hands and head in the “unprovoked” attack.
He did not die instantly and managed to escape before collapsing nearby.
More on Birmingham
Related Topics:
Judge Drew said footage of the attack, which was caught on CCTV, was “truly sickening” to watch as Mr Enfrence died a “traumatic and painful death”.
Image: Minister Enfrence was killed on 5 November. Pic: West Midlands Police
Siblings unanimously convicted of murder
The footage shows Mya passing a knife to her brother during the stabbing.
The judge told them: “This was an attack by two people on one. That attack was unprovoked. Members of the public, including a child in a pushchair, passed very close by while the attack was taking place.”
After the killing, Mya went to work “as if nothing had happened” after taking the morning off work, citing mental health problems, the court was told.
Isaiah later handed himself in to the police.
A jury unanimously convicted the siblings of murder on Monday following a three-week trial.
Both had denied murder and alternative charges of manslaughter.
Isaiah claimed he acted in self-defence, while Mya claimed she did not believe her brother would use the knife to stab Mr Enfrence.
Rachel Brand KC, representing Mya, said the attack was “utterly out of character” for her client and that Mya had shouted “stop it” and “break it up” during her brother and Mr Enfrence’s struggle.
Isaiah, meanwhile, would find it “almost impossible to reconcile what he saw on the CCTV with who he is”, his barrister Michael Ivers KC told the court.
“He has told everyone who will listen when they have spoken to him that he is full of remorse about what happened,” Mr Ivers said.
A “despicable” rapist has been brought to justice and jailed for 10 years in part thanks to a woman’s testimony from beyond the grave.
Steven Connery, 41, repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted two women in the Forth Valley and Tayside areas.
Judge Douglas Brown said Connery’s first victim was left “so shocked that she couldn’t speak” following a painful attack in a bathroom while she was getting ready for a night out.
A court heard how the second woman was also left in “agony” after a sex assault.
Connery was arrested in 2022 after his past crimes were brought to the attention of Police Scotland.
His second victim died before a trial was held at the High Court in Glasgow, but her evidence was read out in the form of a statement by one of the investigating officers.
Connery denied any wrongdoing but was in March found guilty of four charges.
More on Crime
Related Topics:
He returned to the dock on Wednesday and was handed a 13-year extended sentence, with 10 years in jail and three years on licence once released back into the community.
Judge Brown said: “It is almost inevitable that offences of this nature will cause substantial harm and in relation to the second complainer, who has since died, it is clear from a victim impact statement submitted by her sister that your behaviour had a massive impact not only on her but also on her family.”
It was noted that Connery was “still reasonably young” at the time of some of his offending, but the judge added: “Though there is little to indicate that a lack of maturity was a significant factor.”
Connery was additionally placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and banned from contacting the woman who is still alive.
Detective Sergeant Khalid Abdulrahman said: “Although one of Connery’s victims passed away, it was right that her evidence was heard in court through the reading of statements.
“I hope this sentencing brings some comfort to both her family and the other victim in this case.
“Our thoughts remain with them, as without their information Connery wouldn’t have been held accountable for his despicable actions.”