Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland November 1, 2021. — Jeff J Mitchell/Pool pic via Reuters
GLASGOW, Nov 1 — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today opened the historic COP26 climate summit by warning world leaders that they faced a damning verdict from future generations unless they act decisively.
“The anger and the impatience of the world will be uncontainable, unless we make this COP26 in Glasgow the moment when we get real about climate change, and we can get real on coal, cars, cash and trees,” he said in a keynote speech.
Johnson echoed 18-year-old climate campaigner Greta Thunberg — who is in Glasgow with thousands of other protesters — in urging the summit against indulging in “blah blah blah”.
If the leaders “fluff our lines or miss our cue”, generations as-yet unborn “will not forgive us”, the prime minister said.
“They will know that Glasgow was the historic turning point when history failed to turn.
“They will judge us with bitterness and with a resentment that eclipses any of the climate activists of today — and they will be right,” he said. — AFP